Star Wars: The Skywalker Heresy
by trekaddict
Summary: The Battle of Coruscant is over, but Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, the Hero with no fear, faces battles of his own, until one night, after sneaking back into the Temple, he finds some of his assumptions challenged for the first time. Revenge of the Sith AU. Heavily AU. Strong T rating for SciFi violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Just an ahead note: A passing familiarity with the CGI clone wars show can be helpful. (And I mean passing. At present no revisiting of episodes is planned) Also, I have never read Twilight and I am not writing a random fixit. And if Canon!Anakin had had half a brain he would have caught on to Palp's duplicity by the time he forced the council to accept Anakin as a master. At the latest.**

**Chapter 1**

The hallways and corridors of the Jedi Temple lay bathed in darkness at near the middle of the local night. Jedi Master Yoda was not as young as he used to be, and those long meetings were a chore. Necessary, but not something he looked forward to.

He was on his way to the Senate, as Senator Organa had requested an audience the moment the meeting was over, no matter the time. To that end he intended to walk the distance, but Organa had insisted on sending a speeder. So he waited in the shadows of the tower hangar near the top of the temple. He used this time to good effect, as there were many things to be pondered, not the least Obi-Wan once again suggesting making Annakin a full Master. But more than that, the war wasn't going anywhere, and the last attack by the CIS had shown painfully how weak the Republic was.

In truth, Yoda and the rest of the council were more disturbed by the cloud that lay over the Force and that had prevented them from sensing this bold attack before it happened. Between that and the still elusive Sith Lord, the Council had many things to do and not much time left for it.

That Senator Organa wanted to speak to him was no light at the end of the tunnel either. The CIS raid had scared many of the Senators and Yoda already knew that Organa would tell him that getting Chancellor Palpatine to relinquish his emergency powers would now be harder than ever.

In a moment of clarity Yoda realized that the Republic was collapsing under it's own weight and that the Jedi Order with it's traditional approach to nearly everything had done little but look on. He would need to meditate on this at length when he had a moment of peace.

"Attend to things, I must first." he said to himself and rose from the empty container he had been sitting on. No time like the present. He looked out over the ferrocrete expanse of the dock towards where the magnetic field sealed off the entrance. A small speeder was approaching, going recklessly fast. Not the Senator's transport then.

It was then that Yoda felt it. It was not so much a disturbance in the Force, but more a beacon of emotion. It was weak, and Yoda doubted that anyone not on this deck or even outside the hangar could feel it, and he knew that he was alone. The speeder came to a halt, and now that the Pilot wasn't moving, Yoda concentrated more on it, taking care not to be felt in return.

It was a turmoil of feelings. Elation, pure, unadultured joy, but also anger and fear. The pilot...

Yoda's eyes snapped open. It was young Anakin Skywalker. What meant this? The young Jedi was always rash and emotional, but he was never someone to broadcast his feelings like this. To say that Yoda was intrigued now was an understatement, so he continued to 'listen' carefully. Oddly, those feelings were not directed at young Skywalker himself, nor at anyone in the temple or the Council, like Yoda would have expected, but rather towards...

The mental connection slammed shut and Yoda rose to his feet. A confrontation with Annakin was inevitable now.

"Master Yoda, it is... a surprise to find you here." Annakin stood near the hatch of his speeder, relaxed, and yet anxious to get away.

"Late it is for you to be out, young Skywalker. Meet tomorrow, the council will."

"Yes, Master."

The younger Jedi wasn't exactly evasive, but thanks to the Force and good personal knowledge Yoda knew that Anakin wanted nothing more than to get away.

"Troubled you seem, my young Jedi. Many emotions I sense in you."

Anakin didn't reply at once, clearly fighting within himself between opening up to a Jedi Master who, while having been not exactly forthcoming with help, now seemed actually interested.

"It is... nothing, Master Yoda."

"Exhausting the past few days have been. Rest we must, in the future dangers lie."

"Yes, Master."

Anakin bowed respectfully and was about to leave the hangar as fast as his dignity would allow, but even as the senatorial speeder came to collect Yoda and passed the forcfield, he spoke again.

"Troubled Feelings a path to the Dark Side are. Mindful of that you must be, my young Jedi. Accepting advice, weak it is not."

With that they parted ways, Yoda into the speeder and Anakin deeper into the temple.

As the speeder moved away and into the ordered chaos of Coruscant traffic, Anakin Skywalker was surprised to find that he had let his emotions be sensed like that. After years of hiding his illegal attachment, he had much experience in doing so, but Yoda had sensed it as if he had written it on one of the city's billboards.

He breathed himself for letting it happen and as he turned to walk towards the inner temple, he clamped his mental barriers shut. It was bad enough that he had to deal with those dreams. Even though it was hours, he was still haunted by the images of Padmé dying in childbirth. He knew that he would be until he found out what to do against it.

As the doors of the lift closed behind him he allowed himself a sigh. He wished dearly he had someone to talk to about it, but he did not want to worry his wife with his.. dreams? Visions?

He shook his head. No, not her, not right now, not ever. But there was no one else. To anyone he would have to explain why he was having the visions of the Senator for Naboo, and she would understand, but worry. And as little as Anakin knew about pregnant women, he was sure that stress and worry was not healthy.

Obi Wan? Obi Wan would understand, and his old master would be only too happy to help, but...

Anakin shook his head. No, he would have to do this alone. He would survive. She would survive.

The lift doors dinged, opened and he confidently walked into the bustle of the Jedi temple, on a search for a quiet corner in which to calm himself. The Force would guide him.

* * *

><p>At the same time his wife was in her Senatorial quarters. Routine comm traffic had a habit of piling up if she wasn't watching, and in the last few days she had had so many other things to think about. Whatever briefings the Chancellor's office gave the senate, the war was not going well. At best, it could be called a stalemate, and Padmé Amidala was at a loss what to do about it. Anie didn't know either, but at least he could do something about it. Thinking of her husband, she placed both her hands on her stomach and smiled. For all that was going on, one thing was in her life that she knew would give her great happiness.<p>

This happy train of thought was interrupted by a beep from her terminal. She frowned. The sound indicated that it was coming in on an emergency channel that was on a very low bandwith, outside the normal holonet and generally only known to Jedi and Senators.

She pressed 'accept' but instead of the usual hologram only a seemingly random sequence of numbers, letters and symbols appeared over her desk. The message was scrambled.

As Padmé studied the code arrayed in front of her she began to suspect that she knew this particular sequence from someplace. She wished that R2-D2 was here, but he was with Anie at the temple, and C3PO didn't have the Astromech's military-grade codesplicing abilities. Nor was a Bothan handy. But of course! She realized that this sequence seemed familiar because it was one of the special encryption codes the Jedi Order used. That meant that she likely wouldn't be able to decrypt it as she only had access to Republic Code Software. She ran it anyway, but the sequence stubbornly refused to change into an actual message, even after almost an hour of trying.

So what was she supposed to do? If this was someone sending an encoded message on a supposedly already secure emergency channel it implied that that person had no desire to be seen in the communications centre the Senate had exclusive access to. It being a Jedi code, albeit an older one, implied that the sender had at least a tentative connection to the order.

Decision made, she reached over to where she had placed her personal comm on a stack of datapads. She keyed in the code that connected her directly to Anakin, but even after several minutes of waiting he had yet to answer. She was only mildly annoyed, there were any number of reasons why he could not talk, from council meetings to meditation sessions.

The problem was, she had no idea when he would be here next. Even when he was on Coruscant she couldn't depend on any sort of normal schedule. It always hurt, but she had known what she was letting herself in for with a Jed..

Obi Wan.

She remembered that Obi Wan was still on-world, and he would help her with this.

Her husband's old Master answered almost immediately.

_"Senator Amidala, what can I do for you?"_ Obi Wan said, the blue hologram making a courteous bow over her table.

"Master Obi Wan, there is a matter of some discretion I need to discuss with you. In person."

Obi Wan was mystified but he knew that the Senator would not say things like that on a whim.

_"Of course, Senator. I will be joining you at your quarters in-"_

"No," Padmé interrupted, "I will come to the Temple, Master."

_"But.."_ Obi Wan was about to protest that in her condition she should not be forced to make the trip, but he knew how headstrong she was, and he knew from all too personal experience that going up against her thick skull was an exercise in futility. He supressed a sigh. _"Very well, Senator. I will meet you at the main entrance."_

Pleasantries were exchanged before she severed the connection.

Next thing she did was to copy the message onto an encrypted datapad and erase it from her terminal's memory, over-writing it three times before doing the same thing to her appartements comm array memory. Best not to take any chances.

Half an hour later her speeder landed on the public space in front of the Temple. Dormé had insisted that she be accompanied by someone other than a protocol droid, but she had insisted. The chances of her ever getting attacked within sight of the Jedi Temple were very remote. At best.

Obi Wan did not seem to share her assurance, as he met her before she had taken more than half a dozen steps.

"You really should have let me come to you, Senator."

"Hardly." Padmé said, "My.. 'condition' is not a dilapidating injury."

Obi Wan shook his head at the senatorial grace with which she had said that and bowed.

"The fault is entirely mine then, Senator."

The grin he received in reply made it obvious that she had said it in good humour.

Neither spoke as they crossed to the temple. Once inside, he looked at her and asked: "I have to ask Senator, why did you not try to contact Skywalker? I'm sure he would have been glad to assist you."

He had meant nothing by it so the Senator's somewhat... worried response astounded him. She only missed a single step, and by the time she had caught up to him nothing could be read on her face, but Obi Wan was sure that there was something. And if the suspicions he'd held in the deepest recesses of his mind since the start of the war were fed once more.

But now was not the time to speak to her of that, and he sincerely hoped there never would be.

"Well Master Obi Wan, I tried to, but he failed to answer. Either he changed his comm-code since we last spoke or he has something better to do than talk to a passing acquaintance."

Obi Wan chose to ignore the tiny hesitation at the last two words.

"So, how do you suggest we proceed, Senator?"

Padmé stopped in the middle of the hallway they were in and frowned.

"Considering that who used the code either tries to keep the contents confidential and has a jedi connection... We might want to have your Astromech Droid look at it before we decide what to do."

Obi Wan sighed. "There might be a problem with that. Nowadays we wipe our Droids' mission memories at least once a month. A code that old. Last time we wiped was only just before the Chancellor..."

Padmé stopped again and looked at him. "Are you telling me that you don't keep old codes archived somewhere?"

He shook his head. "No, Senator. I wasn't saying that. No, we will have to use the code archive in the library."

"I see."

Padmé said nothing else. While non-Jedi visitors to the temple weren't all _that_ rare, almost none had been allowed into where the order kept all it's secrets. She felt immensely honoured and kept a respectful silence as they walked through the high doors and past the rows upon rows of shelves.

Master Jocasta Nu , the keeper of records for the Order was found near the same starmap where Obi Wan's voyage to the discovery of the Clone Army had begun. It appeared as if she was marking the frontlines of the war, as well as they were known. She turned towards them and appeared completely unfazed at the outsider in her domain.

"Master Kenobi, Senator Amidala. It is a great pleasure to see you both."

"Good day, Master Nu." Obi Wan replied with a courteous nod of the head. "We have an encrypted message we want you to look at."

"Your own Astromech Droids could not read it?"

"Unfortunately, not, Master." Padmé said. I have tried all the codes I know and have access to, and Master Kenobi told me that his droid was wiped very recently."

"I see. Do you believe that message is important?"

"Yes, Master." she replied with a nod, "The way it came into my possession tells me it could be very valuable. And dangerous."

"Play it for me please."

She did, and the same numbers hovered over the holoprojector in her hand. Nu watched it repeat three times before stepping back. "Yes, that is an old Jedi code. At least nine standard months old."

"How can you tell?" Obi Wan asked.

"Some of those elements went out of use around that time. I will have to search the entire code library since the beginning of the war." Nu motioned towards a set of seats in a corner between a shelf and the wall. "Why don't you sit down, Senator. Those children have to be heavy to carry around all day."

"Thank you, Master." Padmé said with audible relief and sat down, Obi Wan beside her. 'Children?' he thought, but when he reached out through the Force it was clear. The three force Signatures around the Senator were all too obvious. And exceptionally strong force Signatures they were indeed...

He stopped.

He shouldn't have looked without her permission anyway, and he was of half a mind to tell her what he had done and apologize for it. But then he didn't say anything. So far Padmé had refused question from all quarters as to the parentage of her offspring and he had no desire to add himself to that list.

"Are you all right, Senator?" he asked instead as she grimaced and held one of her ribs.

"It's fine, Obi Wan. One of them just kicked which is perfectly normal."

Padmé was highly amused at the Jedi Master's worry at something that was indeed perfectly normal. Little conversation was exchanged while they waited, and she was glad for an opportunity to rest. Just for a little while...

"I have completed decoding the message."

She jerked awake as Master Nu returned with a holoprojector. "I have not watched it, but judging by who's code it is, you may want to call him in and do this privately."

"Who does it belong to?" Obi Wan asked, suddenly worried.

"It was once assigned as a personal emergency scramble code to Anakin Skywalker."

**tbc**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: The accidental meeting between Anakin and Yoda is the first POD we've seen. It takes place about 31 minutes into the movie, just before they had that talk in canon. The first chronologically is considerable time before Episode III, but the changes only affect the main characters now. Will be explained eventually. Anyway, obviously the sequence of events in canon has been altered. Considerably.**

**Chapter 2**

Anakin was summoned immediately, and even though he did not tell them where he had been, the three of them met in Obi Wan's quarters. In the sparsely furnished, very utilitarian rooms, this time with R2-D2 in attendance, they sat on the few chairs and tried to deduce who could have sent him the message.

"I've no idea, Master." Anakin said, "That code was in the library for a long time, and I have used it over the holonet on occasion, you know that."

"But why," Padme asked, "should the separatists or anyone who doesn't need our... your _help_ know about this code and my personal comm details?"

Anakin didn't answer, but Obi Wan did in his stead.

"Maybe because Anakin could not be reached directly. Whoever sent this likely knew that you and Anakin know each other well enough for you to take a message to him if need be."

Obi Wan turned towards R2 and missed the quick glance the two other humans in the room shared.

"In any case, you should watch it, Anakin, and then decide what to do next."

He was about to turn and leave the room when Anakin bid him to stay.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Master." Anakin said, "I..."

He paused, trying to find the words he needed. "I would tell you anyway, so this way we might save some time. It seems like the sensible thing to do."

"You, sensible?" Obi Wan replied with a chuckle. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Anakin Skywalker?"

With only a grin as a reply, Anakin turned his head towards his wife. "That goes for you too, Senator. After all you did to bring this to me, that's the least you deserve."

"Thank you, Anakin."

"Well then," he said, taking a deep breath, "let's be about it. R2, display the message please."

After a few enthusiastic beeps, the little droid displayed a hologram of a hooded figure of middling stature, about a head shorter than Padme.

_"General Skywalker, I need your help. I contact you because there is a matter that needs to be dealt with and that needs your unique talents. It is a matter that is a grave threat to the security of the Republic and can potentially turn the war in favour of the separatists. Therefore if you want to help me be at Entrance 1138 to INCOM dispersal facility in The Works at local sundown. Please come alone. Help me General Skywalker, you're my only hope."_

"Well, that's... cryptic to say the least." Obi Wan said as the hologram dissolved. "What do you think this is about?"

"Master, I have no idea." Anakin said. "There are easier ways to set a trap than this one."

"Unfortunately you're right."

Padme recalled what the person had said. "If it is a matter that can threaten the Republic, then will you go?"

She couldn't quite keep the worried edge out of her voice.

Anakin looked at Obi Wan. "What do you think, Master?"

Said Master knew that Anakin had half-decided to go. The Council meeting would not last long, as it was only discussing routine matters. And Anakin would not be needed for very much of that.

What Obi Wan didn't know that Anakin had hoped to be able to spend the rest of that day with his wife, one of the rare days where the both of them were not needed for anything. Normally he would have sought her approval, but with someone else in the room..

But they both knew that he wouldn't be able to sit still while this was going on.

"You should go, Anakin." she said, "Isn't it the Jedi's sworn duty to help people in need?"

"She's right you know." Obi Wan added, "And I know you well enough to say that if you didn't go you would beat yourself up over it for the next couple of days. And I know how... unpleasant a moody Anakin can be."

Obi Wan didn't miss the quick smile that flashed over the Senators face.

Anakin grinned. "You know me too well, oh my Master. Though I must say, I am _never_ moody."

"Ah," Obi Wan replied, "then that time when we lost track of that Separatist commander on Irantus was the exception to the rule, I'm sure. As was the one time we were stuck on that pirate asteroid for three days?"

"Yes, Master, exceptions proving the rule, I'm sure." Padme added with a grin.

Anakin felt amused for the first time since... it had started and couldn't help showing it. For a few moments everything that dampened his mood fell away as the two people he loved the most, one as his almost-brother and the other as his wife, were around him and for once nothing was trying to kill them all.

"But on a more serious note," Obi Wan said after a while, "who could have gotten access to your code while it was still in use by you?"

"I'm not sure. It's not as if I handed the could out as a promotional freebie with propaganda holovids."

There were actually only two times he had done this, and neither could have done it. One of those persons was in the room, and he had parted with the other on less than good terms. Besides, that person looked nothing like the figure they'd seen.

"Do you think it's a trap then?" Padme asked.

"Well obviously it's a trap." Anakin said, "But as my dear Master will tell you, unlike him I am fairly good at getting out of them without help."

"Quite aside that it was only the one time and you could have fallen into that rancor trap yourself, my then still very young Padawan, caution is advised in this. You shouldn't go alone. Whatever the message said."

"Maybe true, Obi Wan. But consider. Whoever wrote this is either waiting for me to bring half the Clones on Coruscant with me in which case he'll be gone or he won't be a threat to me. Not everyone's perception of the force is flawed these days."

Obi Wan ignored the dig at the Council and instead looked at the Senator, as if asking for help. However she just shook her head. "You know him better than I do. Do you think anything I can say will change his mined?"

"True. But Anakin, you just reminded me of another question. What do we tell the Council about this?"

"Nothing, Master. The Council would only urge caution and tell me to ignore the message. I on the other hand have an adventuring spirit and want to know what is going on there."

His old master sighed. "Very well then, but I urge you, at least take a comm-link with you so you're not totally cut off from help. You only need to make a call."

"I know, Master. You've always been too good a friend for anything else."

Padme wondered if she'd missed something, but then, Anakin's dissatisfaction with the Jedi Council was hardly news to her. It should be, but it wasn't. She wished she could do something about that.

"Then we will reconvene here-"

Padme interrupted. "If I may, Master?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. Master Kenobi, I think I can offer my quarters at 500 Republica for this. There you would be able to come to his aid without being seen by anyone, and if I may, R2 can splice the code into my system, in case anything more arrives."

* * *

><p><em>That night Anakin dreamt the dream again. Once again Padme was lying on the table, in pain, calling for him, dying in childbirth. One thing was different though. This time he actually saw her die, and the child with her.<em>

* * *

><p>By next evening, Anakin was pacing up and down in his own quarters, desperately wishing for the numbers on his chrono to climb faster. He hadn't slept at all after the dream in spite of trying out every meditation and relaxation technique he knew, and his lack of sleep fed into his impatience.<p>

Impatience he still felt when he jumped out of the speeder that had taken him to one of the entrances to what had once been the industrial heart of Coruscant. It, and the sectors that had followed had been abandoned when manufacturing moved elsewhere, so they were not a place respectable citizens went these days.

Therefore, perfect for clandestine meetings. As he looked at his surroundings, Anakin saw precisely nothing at all. If you wanted anywhere on Coruscant without constant air traffic, this was it. But what was even more unusual, and what triggered Anakin's sense of foreboding was that there wasn't any ground traffic either. At this time of night the criminal element that inhabited parts of the sector now should be out and about, but the entire scene was only remarkable for being devoid of life.

He had parked on a small raised platform, the abyss on one side and the two massive ferrocrete pillars that marked the entrance, a lift that would descent several levels downwards, about forty metres away. In-between him and it discarded speeder and droid parts were scattered, marking this as a former loading dock of some sort. It had all been here long enough for enough dirt to accumulate to allow the growth of some vegetation in the cracks and over some of the parts. Sensing danger, Anakin pulled his lightsabre from his belt and walked towards the entrance.

As he passed the rusting hulk of a T-11 about five metres from the entrance he sensed movement behind him, so in one swift move, he turned on his heels and ignited his sabre. Three IG-100 MagnaGuard Droids, their double-ended electrostaffs turned on and ready to fight.

Anakin took up a defensive stance and let them come.

All three charged him at the same time, staffs raised to chest level. The first one reached Anakin's range and carried out a sweeping strike, but the Jedi ducked below and came up inside of his opponent with his lightsabre. The weapon connected with the droid's body just to he left of the backup and sliced up his innards.

It's remains fell to the ground.

Anakin didn't stand to watch, and before his opponent was still, he was on the next. This droid parried Anakin's attack with the staff and swung one of the pulse-generating tips towards him. Anakin dodged, jumped to the rear, only to have the third droid swipe at him.

He turned and force-pushed the third droid into a large piece of wreckage where it remained for the moment. At that moment the second droid came at him from behind with his staff raised, but Anakin ducked, pushed his lightsabre over his shoulder and pulled it forward again. Even though he didn't actually hit the droid with it, his opponent stepped back to avoid it, giving him the time to stand, turn and face his enemy.

Both charged each other, Anakin with a furious yell on his lips. His sabre clashed with the staff, and for the next few minutes the fight was reduced to a furiously fast exchange of blows as both opponents tried to gain an edge over the other. Eventually Anakin had enough. He force-jumped over his opponent, turned in the air and came down on his feet. The droid tried to turn, but Anakin swiftly swung his sword, completely bisecting his enemy.

He rose back to his feet with a deep breath and looked around. The scene before him was quiet, but he knew that at least one more droid was out there, so he ran toward where he had last seen it. As he approached, the droid was entangled in the wreckage and vegetation, trying to get free. Anakin ended it by stabbing his sabre into it's head.

"Anyone else?"

As if on queue, the elevator doors opened, and out stepped six more droids.

"Oh come on..." Anakin sighed, force-grabbed a chunk of what had once been a speeder of some sort and slammed it down on the droids before they could move.

He waited for several minutes, but this time it really seemed to be the end of this ambush.

What would he do next? Turn around, fly back and report the ambush or try to find out there those droids had been coming from?

It didn't take him long to reach the elevator.

Once on the other end of it, he couldn't help but take in the vast scenery of desolation and remnants of industry. The closest building was indeed the old, abandoned INCOM facility. Most manufacturing had fled the planet eons ago, but some, like INCOM, had maintained local production of speeders and airbikes for the market on Coruscant, but long before the Trade Federation attack on Naboo that had started the spiral to war the facility had been abandoned.

Anakin reached out into the Force, but he felt no living being nearby. Which was odd. Though officially abandoned, The Works was a hive of criminal activity, and the INCOM facility was a near perfect place, intact, large and close to a back entrance with vehicle access.

What he did feel however was a faint, almost undetectable remnant of a force signature that was... he would almost say familiar, but so faint that he couldn't identify it's owner. In short, the entire affair had been a waste of time, but at least he could confirm that a Force-user was involved in this. It certainly warranted further investigation.

With a sigh he shut off his sabre and returned to his speeder.

As he sped away he failed to see the figure that had watched it all. With a hidden Force signature he hadn't seen nor felt the figure had accomplished it's goal.

**tbc**


	3. Chapter 3

**Now things really go off the rails...**

**Chapter Three**

"So it was a complete waste of time then?" Obi Wan asked after Anakin had told them what had happened. The three of them were once again in the Senator's quarters, this time arrayed around a table filled with specialities from all over the core worlds.

Anakin picked up a lilac fruit and began to peel it.

"I wouldn't say that, Obi Wan." he said.

Popping a piece of fruit into his mouth, chewing and swallowing, he continued: "For one I'm convinced now that a Force User is involved. The presence I felt... It was faint, very, very faint, but somehow familiar."

"Who was it?" Padme asked and placed her eating utensils on beside her laden plate.

"I don't know, Senator."

He ate the rest of the fruit while trying to think of a way to explain what he had felt to his wife. "It was... like a very faint whispering voice in a room full of normal conversation. It was barely there, and had my Force senses not been heightened by the battle already I would have missed it, I'm sure."

"Obscuring one's force signature like this is not an easy task." Obi Wan was sipping from a mug, some sort of broth. "He must have been trained, either by us or by..."

"I felt nothing of the dark side in the signature. What there was of it."

Obi Wan looked at him, the scepticism and worry obvious on his face. "Are you certain? The Dark Side of the Force is a devious foe."

"I'm not easily fooled, Master, unlike some in the Order."

Padme knew both men well enough to be able to tell that they were steering towards a confrontation that they had had several times before but from which neither could or would back down. As she had no desire to see it happen she decided to ask.

"But how can you tell whose Force signature it is anyway? Is it like an echo or an infra-red signature?"

The elder Jedi shook his head. "No, Senator. Someone's Force signature is much harder to define than anything that can be detected with technology."

He struggled for a way to explain it to someone who couldn't experience it. "How a Jedi perceives a Force signature depends on circumstance. Something like what Anakin describes is more an echo or afterthought within the Force, like ripples on the surface of a pond after you throw a stone."

Placing his cup on the table, he continued: "Now if you feel the signature of someone in the same room, that's a different story entirely. Take yourself and your two children for example. Your Force signature and theirs are distinct, easy to read if you search the Force for them and can easily matched to who they belong to."

Obi Wan was totally unaware of the detonator he had just thrown into the room, so he leant back in the armchair he was sitting in, closed his eyes and thought back to the first time he had managed to pick out a single signature from among the background life of the universe. He had been naught but nine standard years old at the time...

It took him several minutes to realize that all conversation and even movement in the room had stopped, but when he did he opened his eyes to see the Senator staring at his former Padawan, both showing no emotion at all. However he didn't need to be a Force user and a Jedi Master to see what was in front of him. No point ignoring the obvious now.

In a way he felt hurt. He was neither dense, nor an enemy. And yet they had chosen to keep him in the dark. He was just about to say exactly that when Anakin broke the moment. Obi Wan found that he was glad that he was given time to make a few decisions that would have to be made.

"In any case, the signature I felt was nothing like that of... the late Count Dooku. His signature was... dark, twisted, evil. In other words, your typical Sith Lord."

"What was the one you felt like?" Padme asked, also completely unaware of what Obi Wan had realized.

"Hard to say. I couldn't feel much beyond that it was not of the Dark Side. It was... troubled, yes, emotional, but not evil."

Obi Wan swallowed the 'Remind you of anyone?' that lay on his tongue and instead chose to watch the interaction between the two, but they declined to 'incriminate themselves any further', so he got back to the matter at hand, making a mental note to approach Anakin at the earliest opportunity. Better to brave the storm now rather than when... when.

"Which brings us down to the fundamental question Anakin. Who has access to Jedi emergency codes, albeit old ones, who knows that you are on Coruscant at the moment, because the HoloNet hasn't caught on to that yet, and who, we all agree, has to have had enough Force training to learn to conceal his signature. He also knew that if Anakin or I were out of contact the Senator here would deliver it to us eventually. That rules out someone like Grevious who is too evil and would never actually stoop to such tactics in the first place."

"No, Master. He would have just blown me up the moment I landed or sent even more of those Droids."

"But I thought those droids were part of his personal Guard?"

"Yes, Senator." Obi Wan replied, "But we've seen that model elsewhere more and more often recently. I think that their... fame and reputation as Jedi-killers has spread so more examples were constructed."

"But tells us that the people who attacked Anakin clearly are connected to the Separatists."

"Not automatically, Master. You know as well as I do that there are more groups out there wishing the Republic harm than the Separatists." Anakin said and sighed. "Though I doubt the Hutts would do it. If anything, they would profit the most from the war going on forever."

He paused. "Though I doubt we can do anything more right now. Unless and until that person contacts us again.

"I agree, Anakin. Senator?"

Padme would have liked to spend more time with them, but she knew that she had to take what she could get.

"Of course, Obi Wan. I will have my droids monitor my comm-traffic and everything will be copied to you as soon as I get it. If I think of something I will call one of you first."

Their meeting broke up then, with Anakin and Obi Wan returning to the temple.

* * *

><p>Later that night they parted ways. Padme to bed, as she had a meeting with several other senators in the morning, officially to discuss relief efforts for the millions of refugees. In reality to discuss what could be done about the Chancellor's emergency powers, something which she had kept secret even from her own husband. All they knew was that she was increasingly uncomfortable with Chancellor Palpatine's emergency powers, and now that he had been granted even more Anakin's friendship with Palpatine was bound to cause some friction between him and his wife.<p>

Anakin returned to the temple with the firm intention of leaving there again as soon as he was sure that no one would notice.

Obi Wan on the other hand claimed that he would approach an old contact of his among the local Corellian community, 'trying to nose around about any Droid smuggling'.

Instead he made sure that Anakin really went to the temple and hid in the level's droid maintenance bay. While he waited for what he knew was coming, he let his mind wander on what he had seen, trying to decided what to do about it.

He knew that whatever he decided, the other would feel it as an intense and very personal betrayal. Would he have to choose Anakin over the order or the other way around? It was not a place he wanted anyone to be in, and part of him hated Anakin for putting him there. What was he thinking anyway? Throwing a life's work as a Jedi and Guardian of the Republic away for...

For what exactly? He had no idea about a huge part of his former Padawan's life, and it was not the way of the Jedi to make a rash judgement.

And yet... Obi Wan felt oddly hurt that Anakin had decided to keep this from him for at least several months and had never even considered telling. Did the both of them think him that dense?

Though looking back, he had to admit that there had been a fair few signs, but _someone_ had chosen to ignore it, probably a certain Jedi Master hailing from Stewjon. All those times Anakin had left the Temple in the middle of the night and come back before sunrise, his eternal impatience to get back to Coruscant whenever they on their way home from a mission or his unwillingness to hear a bad word said about the Senator.

Looking back at it now it was actually fairly obvious.

But that still didn't allow him to decide what to do. He would have to talk to them though, and brave the storm that would create. He had to, because he sure could not go on like this.

Happy to have decided at least _something_ he settled down to wait.

But he didn't have to stay in the spacious but still cramped compartment for long, because less than an hour later the lift doors opened and out stepped Anakin. Obi Wan almost sprang out at him then and there, but he prevented himself from doing so and continued to hide his Force signature.

He followed his former Padawan at a respectful distance. Even as he was hiding in the shadows and alcoves of the expansive corridor Obi Wan tried to decide how to talk to them both.

Anakin reached the door and pressed the button that announced his presence, but instead of entering, he opened his arms and threw them around the senator that threw herself into his arms. Even as he approached, Obi Wan was too far away to hear the whispered conversation they held, but he could see the happiness shining on both their faces.

They kissed.

Obi Wan waited for a minute to give them some time before stepping out of the alcove he had been hiding in.

He cleared his throat. "So, I guess it is true after all then."

**tbc**

** There is no way that Obi Wan was dense enough to not even suspect what was going on, he and Anakin spent far too much time together for that. I hope that my approach to this has been semi-plausible. Again, him finding out is meant to be just a plot device, not the point of this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Thinking back on it in later days, Obi Wan would think of what happened in the corridor with wistful amusement, but at at the time he wouldn't have been able to tell who was more terrified, he or Anakin and the Senator. They had sprung apart like a malfunctioning self-sealing stem bolt the moment they became aware of his presence and both stared at him as if _he_ was the Sith Lord.

"I have long suspected that the attachment between the two of you is far stronger and deeper than you let everyone believe. I am neither dense nor stupid. But by the Force, Anakin, what were you thinking? This is against thousands of years of Jedi tradition, and you're throwing everything away for some sort of childish infatuation! You are a Jedi, and-"

At that moment Padmé interrupted. Even without the Force it wasn't hard to see that Obi Wan was about to blow his top, and knowing Anakin, he would follow suit. If it was all the same, she'd rather they do it behind the closed, and more importantly, soundproof doors of her apartment. "Master Kenobi... Obi Wan, we should go inside. I have control of the recordings the hall sensors make, but someone else might just happen by."

Said Jedi Master wanted to do anything but that at the moment, but something in Anakin's face convinced him that it was the right thing to do. His Force Signature was shut. It was as if he didn't even exist, was not there, the best mental barriers Obi Wan had seen in his life. Anakin's face mirrored that, and the last time Obi Wan had seen it was when... He shook his head. Best not to revisit that particular disaster again.

"That would be best, Senator." Obi Wan said, barely keeping his temper in check. He followed Padmé through the door, with Anakin, who had yet to say a word behind.

Doors closed, Obi Wan tried to calm himself. He let his anger and resentment at being lied to flow away into the Force, and as he did so, he realized what the emotions Anakin displayed meant. His former Padawan, the Jedi Hero with no Fear was _scared_! Scared that he, his Master, best Friend and Brother all rolled into one would forsake him for going against the Jedi code. Yes, there had to be anger at being found out and what he thought to be the betrayal by the one person in the order whom he trusted and had been trusted by in return. If even half of what Obi Wan thought the young man thought to know about what the people around him thought about him, then he had to feel utterly and totally alone right now.

And judging by the way he stared at him now, rage was definitely about to win out.

"Master, this is not... a fling or infatuation." Anakin said with restrained but visible anger. Padmé stepped up to him and only placed one of her hands on his arm. He turned and looked at her with so much adoration. Obi Wan was forced to admit that he had been partially wrong, and as he watched, he realized that she accomplished the one thing he had never really managed. She calmed him down when he had no real desire to do so.

"You love her."

Anakin sighed and looked at his old Master with a rueful smile on his face.

"That I do, Master. Very much."

"You know, I've suspected for years that your feelings for her might be more than professional, and recently you do sneak out of the temple regularly when we are on Coruscant, but..."

What exactly were they to each other? Lovers, certainly. That much was obvious, and it was all but certain that Anakin was the father of her children.

Anakin must have sensed the question.

"Master, she is my wife."

That was one question answered then. Schooling his face and his force presence into an appearance of restrained worry and gravity.

"How long?"

"Three years, Master. Since we returned from Naboo after Geonesis."

Obi Wan hid his surprise at their skill at deception and asked the next, equally obvious question.

"So the children are yours, Anakin?"

"Yes, Master. Though I didn't know it was twins until you told me."

Padmé smiled. "It was supposed to be a surprise, Ani. You promised that you wouldn't look."

"I know, Angel. I would rather have heard it from you."

He leaned over and kissed her up to the moment that Obi Wan cleared his throat once more. "Mind your feelings, my still very young former Padawan."

"Yes, Master."

If not for the seriousness of the situation Obi Wan would have laughed at the way the great Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker was suddenly once more reduced to the rambuctious, rebellious adolescent he had once been during the many times Obi Wan had lectured him. Instead of saying anything he just watched his friend and his wife as she soothed him. His _Wife_!

And yet, somehow Obi Wan couldn't maintain his anger, so obvious was the simple truth that it was the very real thing for both. When he had first 'caught' them he had thought it was some sort of illicit affair, but what he had here instead was the deepest possible of all emotional attachments. Obi Wan was the former Padawan of the late Qui-Gon Jin, and as a result anything but the Dogmatic follower of the code Anakin had sometimes accused him of being. He knew that since the war had started whenever they left Coruscant on yet another assignment he exhibited an uncharacteristic calmness, which was one of the things that had initially tipped Obi Wan off to what was going on. But Anakin's obvious worry about his reaction and his attempts to pre-emptively shield his emotions... By the Force, could it be that Anakin thought...

"So why didn't you tell me, Anakin? I thought we shared everything." Much to his own surprise, this was the only thing that truly hurt Obi Wan about all this, and he made a mental note to meditate on the fact once he had a few moments.

"Because you would have told the Council."

Anakin nearly spat out the last word, but he wasn't finished.

"Because then I wouldn't have been able to keep her safe, and.."

He sighed again. "And because I didn't want to put that burden on your shoulders, Master."

Obi Wan sighed. They would have to do this the hard way.

On one hand he loved Anakin even more for what he tried to do, but at the same time he was angry that he presumed to know what was best for his old Master. He wouldn't become aware of the hypocrisy of that thought for a while.

"What makes you think you know what's best for me, Anakin? Aren't I old enough to decide for myself which burden is too much? As you once were so fond to point out, we are not related by blood."

Padmé held Anakin's arm and was obviously furious. Just as she opened her mouth to start blasting at Obi Wan, her husband said: "Why should I heed it any more than you do? You still try to nanny me at every turn. You and the rest of the Council."

"Oh Anakin..."

Saying 'I only want what's best for you' wouldn't work right now, that much was sure.

"I..."

Obi Wan was at a loss what to say, so for a few minutes silence fell in the room. More to break the impasse than because he was tired, Obi Wan sat down in the chair he had used earlier and sighed, once again banishing the bad feelings into the Force. As he looked up, Anakin and Padmé still stood in the same spot and in exactly the same way, though maybe a bit closer. To Obi Wan they looked as if they felt they were under siege, but...

With a sickening realization, Obi Wan rose to his feet.

"By the Force... Anakin, do you really think I would forsake our friendship over this? That I would choose the council over you because you did what seems to make you happy? You are my brother, my family in all the ways that count. Do you really think I could do this to you? To betray your trust that way?"

The uncomfortable silence was answer enough.

Surprisingly, it was Padmé who answered first, now noticeably angry herself. "What is he supposed to think, Obi Wan? You were and are always the one who reminds him of his duty to the code and the Order."

It was very, very true, Obi Wan supposed, and in his head once again tried to decide what to say next. They both had a point. And to be honest, would he have decided the same if it had been anyone else he caught? Yes, it bloody well would have. What Anakin and Padmé seemed to have forgotten was that the bond that ran between him and Anakin was a two-way street. Then again, how was Anakin to that? The both of them had been raised with a code thousands of years old, and Obi Wan had always reinforced it's values in his teachings.

"Anakin.. believe me when I tell you that I would never just rat you out to the council. If you'd told me, then I would have been angry, yes, I would have tried to talk you out of it, but I would in the end have supported you. I will support you now. You could have trusted me. You _can_ trust me. You have to trust me."

He took a deep breath. "No matter what the Council says, I believe in you."

Obi Wan glanced at Padmé. "In the both of you."

He wasn't sure why he had said those words, but he knew that they came from deep within himself. He meant them, and was certain that they were the will of the Force. As he tentatively probed Anakin's Force Signature, he saw most, but not all of the fear ebb away. It certainly seemed as if his abandoning their friendship had worried Anakin so much. Obi Wan would have liked to what else ailed him, but he would have noticed that deep a probe, so he decided not to push it. Today.

"So, I believe congratulations are in order anyway."

He grinned.

"And you better tell me everything. Every time you lied to me, you sneaked out and what not. Especially the time you loaned her your lightsabre."

* * *

><p>Elsewhere on Coruscant Darth Sidious felt like anything but grinning. In fact, he was furious. He had been reaching towards Skywalker's Force Signature and much to his surprise, had found it in greater balance than it had been after the last time he had been on planet. Something had happened, and it was enough to throw carefully laid plans into disarray. Using his Chancellor Palpatine persona, Sidious had intended to plant Skywalker on the Jedi Council as his own personal spy while driving an even bigger wedge between him and the rest of the order, but to do that, young Skywalker had to be in the correct frame of mind. Which was no longer the case. He wondered why and once again wished he had the entirety of 500 Republica bugged, but unfortunately his own legislation made that impossible, as well as the simple fact that most, if not all the Senators had their apartments swept daily.<p>

He was certain that it had something to do with his wife and his unborn children, and for a moment Sidious was tempted to try a more direct approach, but for the moment their continued survival was in his own interests. Very well, to unbalance Skywalker enough for his purposes a stronger application of what he was already doing would be needed. Manipulating someone's dreams to a specific end over this long a time took great care and deliberation, even for a Master Sith Lord as himself, so he realized that he would be forced to postpone several aspects of his plan. Not by much, a week or two at most, but a postponement still. Though overall, it probably wouldn't matter, as he could implement Order 66 at any time he chose, but who knew how long things like the invasion of Kashyyk could be held back under the pressures of a war that was fast spiralling even out of Sidious' control.

In the meantime however he still needed to up the ante in Skywalker's dreams. For his plans to work, his future apprentice needed to be filled with distrust, anger and fear for those he loved, and at the moment that would take time to achieve, however close he had been only a few days ago. He sensed that Skywalker was still very receptive, but not enough to go behind the Order's back like he needed to once on the Council. Sidious decided on a course of action. He would still meet with Skywalker in Palpatine's office tomorrow and plant the seed, but forgo forcing him on the council until after he'd softened him up some more. Skywalker would be his soon the meantime, he thought, it was time to look after his backup plan, or at least the most promising of several. He would contact his minions and have them move to the next phase. The first phase had been an unqualified success, except in a few cases and in all but one that had already been taken care of.

It didn't take long to call up the latest reports he hadn't read yet and what he found in one of them was less than what he wanted. It had taken months and considerable resources to track that person down and his recruiter had gotten nothing but dead for his trouble. At least those tasked with it had already taken action in the matter, but that too had failed. It seemed that the person concerned did live up to promise, but not in a way that was bound to please the Sith Lord. For a moment he was tempted to order them to persist in their efforts to kill the prospective recruit, but then he considered that of all those approached and already recruited, that person showed the greatest promise. Of course they would all be killed should Anakin Skywalker be turned, but for the moment Sidious was hedging his bets. Besides, it would be a shame not to use the facility that had already been prepared by a legion of CIS construction droids, officially for use as a relaxation retreat for high-ranking separatist leaders.

And there was the war of course. Grievous wanted permission to attack Naboo, again, but Sidious had denied it. Not out of any sense of home or love for his world, but rather because this was one sure-fire way to get Senator Amidala-Skywalker off Coruscant along with Anakin Skywalker and therefore out of Sidious' immediate control. No, that would not do. Even though it wouldn't have mattered, as things would come to a head way before the projected start date of the campaign, but for the moment it was necessary to keep up appearances. However tempting it might be to exterminate those annoying Gungans. Something to be kept in mind for later.

No, at the moment Grievous was perfect where he was, as a pawn to stretch the Jedi Council even further. With luck, they would send someone who could actually kill him, like Master Fisto or Kenobi. To hope for Yoda himself was too much. The Sith didn't believe in luck any more than the Jedi. The day's work more or less done with, Sidious turned to the one pleasure he allowed himself, the plans to his ultimate super-weapon. With it, in time, he would not even have a need for the damned Senate. It would take time to build, years and years, but in the end it would be the ultimate power in the Galaxy.

**tbc**

**Some housekeeping: I'm stretching the time between events during Episode III to fit all my extra stuff. Supposedly the movie goes down over the stretch of only four days which is nowhere near enough. Also, I'm using Palps front or Sith name depending on which mode he's in.**

**After the "wheels within wheels" nature of Palpatine's plans in the movies and some of the EU I can't see him not have a backup plan for turning Anakin. And did anyone of you seriously think that there would not be a Death Star reference?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Palpatine watched as the doors to his office hissed open, admitting the Jedi Knight he had wished to see. Up front, Anakin Skywalker seemed to be every bit the Hero with no Fear the media portrayed him as, but a surreptitious probe of his Force Signature revealed the fear, anger and frustration within him. Oh, there were blocks in place that prevented any deeper search of his feelings, but Palpatine supressed a smile at how close to the Dark Side his future Apprentice was already. It would not be long now.

"Ah, Anakin. I am happy you could see me at such short notice."

"You are the Supreme Chancellor, Sir. I would have made the time." Anakin replied with a respectful nod.

"Quite."

Palpatine motioned for him to sit down in one of the plush chairs on the far side of his desk and dropped fully into genial host mode.

When Anakin denied refreshments, Palpatine rose to his feet and stared out over the cityscape of Coruscant. Anakin rose, and as the two stood side by side, the Supreme Chancellor began to speak.

"Beautiful, is it not? The embodiment of civilisation, it's highest heights and it's lowest depths, all united in one planet-spanning city."

"It is, Chancellor." Anakin replied, unsure where Palpatine was going.

"As with all things, there are those who seek to destroy it, by any means at their disposal."

"The Separatists are a grave threat, Chancellor." Anakin said nocommitantly. Somewhere in the back of his head alarm bells rang, so was wary.

"Not only the Separatists. There have been several cases where even our own choose to work against the Republic and for Confederate victory. That they did not succeed... we have you to thank for that, my boy."

Anakin gave a appreciative nod, and returned to look out over Coruscant. He was still shaken by the nightmare he'd had today, one that was worse than ever before. This time Obi Wan had been there, ready to take his children away from that place, leaving Padmé were she had died. He had a hard time believing that Obi Wan would do any such thing, commit the ultimate treason against him, and yet the vision had been so vivid, so real, that he couldn't help but wonder if they were true. But what in the name of the Force could drive Obi Wan to do such a thing? Though at the same time, his secure knowledge, his firm belief in his brother alone made him doubt the visions just in a small way.

Beside him, Palpatine chanced a glance, and hid the look of satisfaction he wanted to display. He may not be there yet, but the boy was well on his way to the Dark side.

"Republic Intelligence has uncovered something far more sinister than a single spy however."

"Another conspiracy within the Senate?"

Palpatine didn't answer and instead left Anakin to ponder what he had said. Minutes later, he sensed his worry through the Force. Good, very good.

"There are many within the Senate who have opposed the latest set of Security and Emergency laws."

"But Chancellor, this is their right within a Democracy." Anakin said, starting to sound worried.

Inwardly rolling his eyes, Palpatine sighed. "Oh certainly, my boy. And no doubt, most senators are as fiercely loyal to the Republic and it's cause as you or I, but in some this has turned into active opposition to the war in service of either the separatists or their own nefarious ends."

"In the _Senate_?" Anakin asked incredoulously.

"Yes, I fear it is true. There is plenty of evidence for it."

That nine tenths of it was fabricated and planted was of no matter at the moment.

"There likely is more. Some may even have connections to the Jedi Council."

Bomb dropped, Palpatine drew back to watch the impact.

Anakin's mind reeled at what the Chancellor had said. The idea that the Jedi could plot the overthrow of the Republic was, in one simple word, inconceivable.

"But..."

He struggled for the right words. Part because he didn't want to believe what he had heard, part because it fit in with what his visions had told him. He was confused, unsure who he was supposed to believe. Which of course suited Palpatine just fine. Not that he said so of course.

"Yes, Anakin. It seems that the both of us have treason and plot far closer to home than we expected."

"I will be vigilant then, Chancellor."

"Very good, my boy. Vigilance is the only thing that can save the Republic now."

Anakin swallowed and suppressed the urge to examine what he had been told right away. Instead, he asked a question.

"Do we know who is involved?"

"In the Senate? No, I am afraid not. On the Council, if at all, there is no way to tell, but rest assured, Intelligence will find out if there is treason within the Jedi Order."

With a sickly sweet smile Palpatine turned to Anakin and looked at him directly. "There is at least one Jedi Knight of whom I can be sure."

"Always, Chancellor." Anakin replied, knowing full well who was meant.

"I am sorry to have to bring this to you in this fashion, but I could not risk communications that can be intercepted."

"Of course." Anakin said with a short nod. "But I have to ask, since we do not know who is involved in this conspiracy, is there a motive beyond the new laws and the powers they grant you?"

"In the Senate there is always someone who seeks to gain politically from the Republic's misfortune. In the Jedi Order... As you are aware, the new laws place the Order under the guidance of the Republic, and there are some elements who like things the way they were, however misguided and wrong."

About that Anakin could have written several sets of Holo-Operas. That the Order had it's share of people resistant to change and unwilling to accept even the notion of a new idea was one of his bigggest problems with the institution.

"So what do we do?"

"You said it yourself, my boy."

Palpatine finally turned away from the window and back towards his desk. "Constant vigilance. That is the only thing we can do until there is more evidence. Therefore, I want... no, I need you to report everything that is suspicious to me."

The Jedi Knight only nodded in agreement, fully aware that he had just all but agreed to be the Chancellor's spy within his own organization.

"But enough of my own problems. There is something about you that tells me you have some of your own. Can I help you? Is there anything you want, anything at all? Your loyalty to the Republic must be rewarded after all."

Anakin considered telling the Supreme Chancellor of his visions for a short time, but decided not to. "I fear it isn't something you can help me with."

"Are you certain? I have ways and knowledge that even the Jedi do not know of, even though the Council might not approve of some of them because of the code."

Palpatine had placed the bait in front of him.

Anakin hesitated for a minute before shaking his head. "Thank you for the offer, Chancellor. But... I need to consider all options first."

"Of course."

Inwardly Palpatine was pleased. It had been risky to be so blatant about his Sith knowledge, but he had correctly assumed that Anakin would be too worried about his dear Senator's health to run screaming to the Council. It was too bad that she had to die, because her twins would have made an excellent second generation of Sith. But the Dark Side of the Force was a fickle mistress and often chose to withhold one's wishes, and the one thing that both sides had in common was that their wishes were very much open to a different interpretation by each adherent. Which was what had lead Sidious down the path to the point where he had killed his own old master.

And tonight, Palpatine decided, Skywalker would have yet another dream.

Right now though a change of topic was needed. Luckily Anakin provided it himself.

"And what of the War? There are rumours that General Grievous is planning a major attack."

"Unfortunately we have only rumours. With so many fronts it is hard to say what the enemy will do. We can only hope that we are lucky."

"In my experience Chancellor, there is no such thing."

* * *

><p>That night the dream was worse than ever before, and this time Anakin felt as if he was really in it. He was running down the grey-scale corridor of a Victory-Class Star Destroyer, though he had no idea why he knew this. The hatch in front of him hissed open.<p>

Inside was Obi Wan, standing over Padmé's limp body. He turned, exclaiming 'ANAKIN!'

* * *

><p>Anakin jerked awake inside his temple quarters with sweat dripping from his body and his bedding damp to the touch. Breathing heavily, he turned off the annoying chime of his comm unit, never before so thankful for it.<p>

Still half-asleep, he picked the unit up from his bed-side table and checked who it was.

That changed the moment he recognized his wife's personal comm code. He tapped the holographic projector alive.

"Senator Amidala, what can I do for you this late at night?" he said, mindful of the Jedi Communications centre this had to be going through.

_"General Skywalker,"_ she said, _"Further inquiries in regards to that droid purchase we discussed with General Kenobi yesterday evening has yielded some... interesting results. The initial buyer has once again made contact, once again by recording. Considering what happened the last time, it might be best if you both came to meet me in my Senate Offices right away."_

Anakin checked his Chrono. It was an hour before local sunrise, so by now Obi Wan should be about his usual morning routine that he followed whenever they were on Coruscant.

"Very well, Senator. Give us an hour, and we will be there."

_"__Thank you, General."_ she replied with a courteous nod, _"I shall await you then. Amidala, Out."_

He turned off the unit and sighed. Those dreams were getting worse each night, and he had almost reached the point where he was afraid to go to sleep. The last time this had happened his mother had died shortly afterwards, and he shuddered to think at what he had done in revenge.

_Revenge, a path to the Dark Side is. Avoid it you must._

Yoda's words came into his mind unbidden and unwanted, but somehow the old Jedi Master often had things to say in the worst moments. Whatever that ended up meaning. Anakin shook both him and the dream away and got dressed, and as he clipped his lightsabre to his belt, he keyed Obi Wan's code into his wristunit.

_"__There are only two reasons you would call me at this time of the day, my former Padawan."_ Obi Wan said without a greeting, _"It is either some sort of war emergency or has to do with the Senate. I am not sure which I prefer, to be perfectly honest, so now which is it?"_

The humour in his voice was obvious.

"The latter. Do you remember that droid matter we discussed with her the other day? It seems that there has been some activity on the accounts, so she called me just now. We are to meet her in her office."

Even though they hadn't actually decided on using a code, Obi Wan understood what Anakin was talking about, so he just replied with a _"Meet me at the dock."_ before shutting off his comm.

The ride to the massive building that housed the Senate was mercifully short, as neither man had much patience tonight. Padmé had provided them with an access code that by-passed local traffic control, thus allowing them to land unannounced and in a private corner of the expansive hangar that served the building. As they walked towards the private access lift that would take them directly to the level of Padmé's office, Obi Wan sensed something that he had missed during the short flight over from the temple.

"Something troubles you."

Anakin halted in mid-stride, and for a moment contemplated brushing Obi Wan off with his customary "I'm fine.".

But the dream and Obi Wan's presence in it had shaken him up, and at the same time he remembered what Yoda had said several days ago. And yet... he couldn't bring himself to talk to the person who was closest to him with the exception of his wife. What was wrong?

"I'm sorry Master."

Obi Wan knew that it was pointless to try and get an answer out of Anakin when he was like this, so he cast him a worried glance but kept his mouth shut.

It remained that way until they exited the lift.

He stopped Anakin with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Anakin.."

Obi Wan hesitated, unsure how Anakin would take what he wanted to say next.

"Anakin, if there is _anything_ I can help you with, you can tell me. You know that, my friend."

"Thank you, Master: You have helped me very much already."

Since the usual sarcasm was absent, Obi Wan nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you know that."

Anakin place his other hand on Obi Wan's arm.

"I know, Obi Wan."

And silence fell once more, even as the droid acting as Padmé's receptionist chimed them in through the doors. Obi Wan had never actually been in here, so he looked around without trying to be too obvious, but Anakin moved through the office with a familiarity that spoke of many mostly clandestine meetings here. He turned his gaze away from the magnificent view of the city and saw Anakin give Padmé a kiss.

When they noticed him watching they sprang apart like a couple of younglings caught stealing sweets from the kitchen at the temple.

"Oh do go ahead." Obi Wan said, "Though you should try to keep it out of the public eye."

It was refreshing to see the both of them this unguarded, and once again he had to appreciate what good actors the both of them were.

Padmé, desperately trying not to turn twenty-seven shades of red, offered chairs, which were gladly taken. Next she summoned R2 and raised the privacy screens before beginning her narrative.

"Same code, same frequency, about the same time of day for reception. However, this time I had snooper software ready and was able to trace it for a short time."

Anakin leaned forward in anticipation. "Where did it come from?"

"I don't know. The trace ended in the System Exit relay. It is as if it was fed in directly at the relay there."

"Seems like someone wants to make it look like it came from off-world." Obi Wan said and stroked his beard. "Any chance at a transmission signature we could use to compare to others?"

"Of course." Padmé replied.

She handed Obi Wan a chip. "Anyway, since Anie gave me the code, I was able to decrypt it. I stored it in R2, but haven't seen it yet."

The Jedi Master nodded. "Let's get to it then, shall we?"

R2 beeped an affirmative and began displaying the message.

_"__General Skywalker, I must apologize for the way our last attempt at a meeting went. Rest assured, those droids were not sent by me but by those I wish to warn you about. Once again, I need to meet in person with either you or General Kenobi, who I assume has been notified of this matter by now."_

Obi Wan glanced at Anakin as if to say 'He knows you well'

_"__However, I don't want to meet on Coruscant for several reasons of my own, but I'm confident I haven't been followed off-world. You need to do so as well, General. If you ask yourself why I am making this request of you, consider that those who attacked you employed Separatist droids, and those who attacked me used Sith techniques. Take a a ship to a position five million clicks sunward of the primary relay you have undoubtedly traced this message to. Once I have satisfied myself that everything is as I want it to be, I'll contact you again."_

The figure took a few steps out of the pickuprange of his comm unit and hologram flickered off and the three humans in the room looked at each other.

"That is certainly interesting."

Obi Wan scrateched his beard like he did when he was thinking and continued: "This time we've been given a great deal more information."

"I agree, Obi Wan." Anakin raised his mechanical hand, all four fingers outstretched.

"This person served with us at some point, or at least knows us well enough to be able to tell I would bring this to Obi Wan's attention."

One finger was retracted.

"Whoever The Watcher is, he is smart and won't be easy to catch if we want to. He has the knowledge to set up a clandestine meeting place and follows strict security procedures."

One more went.

"He's genuine, but has underestimated the threat posed by whoever is after him, or that ambush wouldn't have happened."

Only his metal pinky-finger was left.

"And I'm sure I know this person from somewhere."

"What?"

"How do you know he isn't behind it?"

Anakin glanced at Obi Wan, answering his question first.

"Force knows who it actually is, and he's disguised it well. But I'd be willing to bet a jump into a Gundark nest that I've seen him before someplace, something about the way he moved still seemed familiar."

He grinned, and shook his head.

"As for him being genuine... Angel, if he knows me this well and had tried to ambush me, I would be dead, because he would have used more than a few droids to try it. And even if he wasn't, we can't let even the hint of Sith involvement go uninvestigated."

"Anakin is right, Padmé." Obi Wan added, "With what we've been through in the wars, someone like the late Jango Fett has a far greater chance at taking him down in a surprise attack than an entire army of droids. And for all their power in fighting Jedi, those weren't specialized assassin models."

"I appreciate your trust in his abilities, but this could still be a trap."

"Oh of course. But as a wise man once said, 'Without risk, great rewards can seldom be earned.'"

Padmé was obviously torn between her need to keep Anakin where she could keep an eye on him and her sure knowledge that he would be pursuing this. Obi Wan wished he could do something to help them, but he had no idea what it could be.

"And there is something else we need to consider. As long as this was on Coruscant, we could do this clandestinely, but if we have to go off-world..."

"We need to seek permission from the Council." Anakin finished with a sigh.

Obi Wan rose to his feet, accepting the unspoken decision the group had taken.

"I will take care of that. You will spend time with your wife and your children, old friend."

"Thank you, Master." Anakin replied and was himself surprised how genuine and heartfelt that was. He really was thankful to Obi Wan, and he felt lighter, airier and almost totally free within the Force now that he did not have to lie to the only person he was almost as close to as Padmé.

Obi Wan left, and Anakin turned towards his wife.

She gave him _The look_ that had made husbands quiver in their boots since wives had been invented.  
>"I'm sorry, Angel." he said, even though he knew that her annoyance was not so much directed at him but more at the fact that she couldn't come too. And Anakin wanted to stay for the same reason.<p>

Padmé sighed, and put up an obviously fake smile.

As Anakin was about to come around the table and hug her, she put both hands on her stomach and said: "Just go, Ani. We'll be fine."

However her husband hesitated, and after a few minutes reached for something within his robes.

Out came a lightsabre. In fact, it was the same one he had loaned her a few years ago, and once again he handed it to her.

"Here, take this. And I mean it. Take it as a present from me to you. Permanently."

"But..."

For once the Senator was speechless, but Anakin just placed it in her hand and closed her fingers around it.

"I'll use one of my spares from now on. They all look the same, no one will notice. And it's the next best thing to me being here in person. And always remember that I love you."

"Thank you." Padmé replied with tears glistening in her eyes.

**tbc**  
><strong><br>**  
><strong>The next mini-arc is the main reason why felt I stretched things out. As they go off-world for a while, I needed the time.<strong>  
><strong><br>**  
><strong>Also, I've noticed that a few tiny, but consistent typos have crept in. Corrected now.<strong>  
><strong><br>**  
><strong>But honestly, I have no idea where that last scene's ending came from. I sat here writing it, and that was where it flowed. Great. Now I have to think of something for her to do with that lightsabre. Though my mental image of her stabbing Palpatine with it is (probably. Maybe.) not going to happen. <strong>

**And just a little warning. I will not be able to keep this pace up forever, so enjoy it while it lasts.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Obi Wan considered himself lucky that the Council had been in session. Technically, he had been supposed to partake in this meeting as it discussed efforts to finally track down and capture General Grievous, but since he had cited an emergency, which was true enough, he was arriving late. When the doors to the Council Chamber hissed open, he could sense the slight annoyance they felt towards him for being even later than he had promised.

However, he had spent the last few hours since seeing the message with procuring low-key shuttle for Anakin and himself by calling in about a dozen favours and severely bending the Coruscant Traffic Registry laws.

As the masters filed out of the chamber, Yoda and Mace Windu were the last to leave. Obi Wan seized the opportunity and approached them.

"Masters, something has come up that I need to discuss with you."

Yoda inclined his head. "Something to do with young Skywalker it has, hmm?"

Obi Wan had decided to stretch the truth and omit Padmé's part in the matter. "Only in so far that he discovered that it was something to be dealt with and brought it to my attention."

"Then what is it?" an impatient Mace Windu asked.

Over the next ten minutes Obi Wan gave an edited version of what had taken place. When he finished, the two elder Jedi Masters looked at each other, before Windu indicated that he would follow Master Yoda's lead.

"Something to consider, this is." Yoda turned within himself for a minute before looking back at Obi Wan. "About it, what do you want to do?"

'Here goes nothing.'

"I want permission to leave Coruscant and for Anakin to accompany me."

"Why? Skywalker is too important here on Coruscant."

"Doing what exactly, Master Windu? We are both between assignments right now."

Windu swallowed his reply, and instead decided to be reasonable, because even for all the impertinence of his reply, Kenobi was right. At the moment he and Skywalker were, while not officially on leave, not really needed with their commands, as both sides would be licking their wounds from the Battle of Coruscant for at least another two or three months. Oh, there was always something going on in the Rim, a huge chunk of the council had only attended as Holograms for a reason. But sending two of the orders most accomplished Jedi off on what he considered to be a fool's errand?

"When Sith are involved, all measures we must take."

Windu nodded in agreement. "Indeed. In can't say that I feel comfortable with the both of you on this... treasure hunt," he said with visible distaste, "but if there is even a hint of Sith involvement it makes sense to send two of our best Jedi to investigate."

Obi Wan registered the highly unusual commendation of Anakin's abilities with the silent wish that the Master tell that to the recipient in person. However overblown Anakin's distaste for the Council might be, the assembly of Jedi hadn't exactly done much to earn his respect, especially lately, and he was guiltily aware that he had all but ignored the problem. Small wonder the boy thought that he wasn't trusted, because at least in Windu's case, it was actually true. He vowed to do something about that soon, but right now they had a more immediate concern.

"So we have your permission?"

"Yes, Master Kenobi. Go out you will, and news to us bring soon. After Grievous send you we wished, but Master Fisto in your place has volunteered."

Much later Obi Wan would feel somewhat guilty for the relief he had felt in that moment, considering the fate Fisto had suffered, but at the time, he was glad that he could go on his little 'treasure hunt'.

"Yes, Master Yoda." Obi Wan gave a respectful short bow and left the chamber as quickly as his dignity would allow. Much to his amazement, Anakin was still where they had agreed that he would wait, near the entrance to the Room of a thousand fountains.

"So?" he asked, clearly expecting a negative answer.

"We have permission, with an emphasis on speed."

Obi Wan didn't mention what Mace Windu had said because the way he was now, Anakin might not believe it. Better keep that for a better time and place.

Anakin on the other hand was visibly surprised, but only shrugged after he'd recovered his faculties. "Then the Council is capable of quick and decisive action after all. Probably because there's the Sith involved."

But he wasn't going to begrudge them doing it, because Padmé aside, he really, really wanted to find out what was going on. He hated being kept in the dark.

"So I take it you've already made arrangements?"

"Yes." Obi Wan confirmed. "A hyper-space capable commercial shuttle sans crew is waiting for us at a docking port on the opposite side of Coruscant. The flight plan is the biggest work of fiction since the first Mon Calamari Opera and the two persons who rented it look nothing like the two of us, should anyone come and ask."

Before the war, Anakin would have marvelled at his old Master's potential for deception, but now he only nodded. "That should buy us enough time to leave the system towards wherever it is The Watcher is leading us."

Obi Wan looked at him sideways. Anakin showed the kind of eager enthusiasm to get going that had been sadly absent of late, and Obi Wan was glad to see it back. Maybe not having to lie to everyone around him any more lifted some of the burden that his old friend always carried on his shoulders.

"Pa..." Anakin remembered where he was. "Senator Amidala has suggested that we take R2-D2 with us. He might be useful in this. Knowing you, you would have wanted him to come along anyway, so I brought him with me. He's waiting by my speeder."

"Very well then, my former Padawan, shall we get going, or is there something you need?"

Anakin denied needing anything, as Jedi always travelled very light.

Less than an hour later two down on their luck Freelance Traders and their droid, having gotten it and the shuttle with the last of their money left, having filed a course towards a rimworld and taking a course that would give them almost twenty minutes in tight-beam range with the main comms relay for the Coruscant system. That arrangement wasn't all that unusual, for someone of means at least as capacity was severely limited. But then again, on Coruscant there existed a large number of legal and illegal ways to earn the credits one needed.

The shuttle Obi Wan had procured using a Jedi Order slush fund meant for situations like this one looked like it had been on the front lines of the war. Outwardly at least, because Anakin quickly noticed that the craft was in excellent repair and very fast and nimble for anything it's size.

Obi Wan was too busy with aiming the tight and uninterceptable laser beam from a Republic-issue set at the relay.

In a series of hurried beeps, R2-D2 acknowledged the data connection with the relay, though he questioned the need for such a primitive and low-speed form of communications technology.

"Don't worry, old friend." Anakin said soothingly and patted the droid's metal dome, "You will always be my go-to guy."

With a happy affirmative beep, R2 went about the work searching the relay's storage banks, though because of the low rate of transmission it would take some time.

"You know," Obi Wan said as they leaned back in their seats and waited, "it always amazes me that you can understand him without an interpreter."

"I aim to please, Master."

Anakin mock-bowed without getting up. "Padmé thinks it's endearing that I consider R2 to be a true friend, and not just a droid."

"Of course she would. She's your wife, and has to support you through good and ill."

Anakin said nothing, but reflected on how refreshing and liberating was to finally _talk_ about his being married to someone other than his wife. That it was his oldest and best friend and the brother he'd never had was only icing on the cake. Somehow, ever since that talk they'd had in Padmé's rooms, he felt... lighter, it was easier for him to calm himself during meditation.

And yet, the dreams were getting worse, and he feared more for her death than ever before. For a short moment he considered confiding in Obi Wan about this too, but.. no. If these truly were visions, then he, Anakin Skywalker, would have to deal with it.

"I said," Obi Wan repeated for the second time, "I said that R2 seems to have found something and we are moving away from the relay. Where were you?"

"I'm sorry, Master. My thoughts wandered a bit."

Obi Wan suppressed the urge to say that he thought he knew where they had wandered. "R2 is downloading the message into the buffer, but it will take some time. He once again has reminded us that the tight beam doesn't allow for more."

With a smirk, Anakin turned towards R2. "You can be glad you're not working for someone else. Like Obi Wan for example. He would have had you disassembled already."

With an indignant beep, R2 turned and went back to work.

"'Hah, never!' Well..."

Chuckling, Obi Wan said: "Your droid knows me well."

Anakin just grinned and tapped the beat of song that was very popular on Naboo right now into the duraplast casing of his flight instruments.

Without warning the message popped up over the central console.

It wasn't another hologram of The Watcher, Instead it resolved into a star chart of the Core Worlds before focussing on a single one. To Anakin it looked like any number of human-colonised worlds, blue, green and with white clouds. So instead he brought up the details. He glanced at Obi Wan before setting the NavComp to work on a course.

Obi Wan shook his head. "Well, haven't been to Corellia in a while."

"Hrm."

"What is it?"

Anakin turned in his seat. "Corellians are smart-arse, cocky, impatient and reckless."

"So they are exactly like you." Obi Wan countered with a roll of his eyes. "I don't see your point."

And for once the great Anakin Skywalker was without words, as he closed his mouth again without saying anything.

But his grin made it clear that he had taken the words in the way they were meant.

"Corellia it is then, Master. Hyperspace."

He pushed the throttle full forward and the ship jumped.

The Watcher smiled with satisfaction as the shuttle carrying the two Jedi towards jumped. It had been a great risk to stay and watch, but risks had to be taken in this.

* * *

><p>The run to Corellia was a quiet one, as both Jedi used the time to meditate, each for his own reasons. Anakin sought to calm himself and ease his worries about his wife, while Obi Wan sought guidance from the Force about the very same matter. He never even considered turning them in, but there remained the issue of what to do when the twins were born. But today the Force remained silent, and he was no closer to a solution when the autopilot dropped them out of Hyperspace right on the system's territorial limit.<p>

With an automated query to Corellia Space Traffic Control was immediately alerted to their presence.

_"Unknown Shuttle, this is Corellia Space Traffic. State your crew, cargo and purpose."_

Anakin sat back into his chair and flipped the switch of the comm unit. "Corellia Space, this is the independent trading shuttle _Tiberian_. Two crew, one droid, and as of yet, no cargo. We hope to pick up some at Coronet."

Arrivals like this were so common that they excited no real notice, which was why Obi Wan had chosen it, and sure enough, the voice soon assigned them a vector to the inner system, an approach run to the capital city of Corellia and a landing platform in the city's commercial district.

"Thank you, CTS. _Tiberian_ will proceed as instructed. Out."

As they approached, the pad was still filled by a white and blue painted YT-1300 freighter, so the shuttle made a wide circle while the crab-clamp like ship took off and flew off to parts unknown. Anakin landed the shuttle once it was gone.

He shut down the drive before turning in his seat to look at Obi Wan.

"You do realize, this could still be a trap. We could be walking into a hive of Assassin droids."

"But of course. But that's never stopped us before. When did you become the voice of reason and caution?"

Obi Wan had a good idea when that happened, but he didn't push it, because he knew that Anakin was right. And anyway, there was no reason to take pointless risks.

"So we probably shouldn't go in there sabres blazing. The Watcher wouldn't like it, and I do want to find out what's going on first."

There was the old Anakin. Obi Wan nodded and stepped to the back of the shuttle. When he returned, he carried two of the nondescript dark brown ponchos that people all over the Galaxy used to hide behind. "No sense in broadcasting we are Jedi."

Thus disguised as down on their luck traders from Coruscant, they exited their shuttle, only to be immediately approached by a pair of men, one a customs official, the other a CorSec Lieutenant.

"Identification and Licence please."

Obi Wan and Anakin handed over both without hesitation, as they were very much genuine, just not made out to their real names. Anakin made a mental note to one day ask Obi Wan where he had gotten them on such short notice. Normally this sort of thing took at least two days to arrange. It had probably been through Drax and one of his old underworld contacts.

"Is something amiss?"

"No, not with you in particular." the Lieutenant replied. "It's just that since the Separatists attacked Coruscant and the new Security Laws were passed in the Senate, we have to inspect all traffic to and from Coruscant a lot more closely."

The two Jedi shared a quick glance but said nothing. The customs official then went on to search the thoroughly empty loading bay of the shuttle before returning with a shake of his head.

"To be frank," the Lieutenant went on, "it's little more than annoying make-work. My superiors and the Senate are in panic-mode right now, and we do have more important things to do than search every freelancer shuttle that comes here."

"Sir," the Official interrupted, addressing himself to Obi Wan, "your shuttle has been inspected and certified as not carrying any dangerous or prescribed items. You are hereby granted entry into Correllia."

"Thank you."

A few more pleasantries were exchanged before everyone went his own way.

Once the others were out of earshot, Anakin glanced at Obi Wan.

"Master, are you ready to spring the trap?"

"Lead on, my former Padawan."

R2 beeped an obviously exasperated set of tones, but Anakin patted his dome, looking at Obi Wan as he did.

"I don't know, I quite like his humour."

"I'll have you know," Obi Wan protested, "that you found it funny enough in the past."

Throwing a glance at R2, he said: "I'll never understand how you can understand him. It's strange."

"Padmé thinks it's endearing."

Of course she would, Obi Wan thought but didn't say out loud.

"So, where to from here?" he said instead and made a show of looking around.

Anakin closed his eyes for a moment, trying to reach into the Force, and was frustrated when it failed to provide him with guidance. "There is too much activity here, though not much Dark Side. We probably have the Green Jedi to thank for that."

Obi Wan had his own opinions on those renegades, so he said nothing.

"We will have to rely on the message then. R2, lead us please."

Beeping an affirmative, he took off down the street, the two Jedi in hot pursuit.

The Watcher stood in an alcove of a small street-side eatery and was satisfied. Everything was going to plan.

**tbc**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The streets R2 led them through turned more and more like something out of the lower levels of Coruscant, the farther away from the Government buildings they got, until the Astromech droid stopped in front of a seedy Cantina that reminded Anakin of the one in Mos Eisley. For a moment he he asked himself if this could be any more cliché.

By the time he was done, Obi Wan caught up to him and by the look on his face had exactly the same thought.

"R2, are you sure this is the right place?"

The indignant reply that came back needed no translation, yet Anakin chose to provide one anyway. "He says: 'Of course it is, and that he at least would never lead his best friend into a Gundark Nest.'"

With a humorous 'You'll pay for that.' Obi Wan led them to a nearby dark and only marginally clean side alley lest they attract even more attention. "On a more serious note, do we have any idea how we proceed from here?"

Once again it was R2 who provided the answer.

"He says that the message contained as it's last entry instructions to go in there, sit at a particular table and wait."

Obi Wan looked at the Cantina again, in time to see a boy of about ten years running out, with what he presumed to be the bartender hot on his heels, wielding a stick of some type. He swung once, missed, and by the time he had gotten his bearings, the boy had taken off down the street, leaving a severely irate bartender behind. Obi Wan looked at the scene and shook his head.

"Anakin, I have a bad feeling about this."

"So do I." came the reply. Anakin inclined his head and considered his old Master. "But we both want to find out what is going on. Let's face it, we have to go in there. And we have a few trusty friends."

With a swish of his poncho he unveiled the light sabre clipped to his belt for a second.

"Another one? Anakin, you go through sabres like other men through water on Tatooine."

"Not really my fault this time. Padmé has it, I wanted her to have it."

"And the next time someone sees her with it? I doubt this time there will be a convenient attack on the Senate to distract everyone."

Much to his own surprise, Anakin didn't really care about that.

"But we could stand out here and bicker like two old women for another hour, and as much fun as that would be to me, it won't solve the problem we are here for."

With that, Anakin declared the conversation over and resolutely marched towards the entrance to the Cantina.

On the inside, the biggest difference to the Mos Eisley Cantina was that R2 didn't have to wait outside, down to the fifth-rate band playing the same sort of music. Oddly enough the booth they had been directed to take was free, and as they sat down, Anakin muttered instructions to R2 to keep an eye on the crowd. The droid dutifully turned and surreptitiously scanned the crowd who was far more interested in getting drunk than what was going on around them. The only waiter in the room was a decades old protocol droid that had enough rust over it's lime green base paint to make it look like a fruit that had gone bad.

"Your orders please." it said with a clearly broken voice actuator.

"Two Brushanti Glow-waters, one with ice." came Anakin's order, born out of familiarity with both men's habits.

The droid went to relay their orders while Anakin leaned back in his seat. "Well, this isn't the worst dive either of us has been in, but it's damn close. And for some reason I feel like we're being led on again."

"Wouldn't be the first time, Obi Wan."

"Nor the last, I suspect."

Conversation died away when the waiter reappeared with their drinks in two reasonably clean glasses on a tray.

He took a few credits as payment and left without taking the tray. The two Jedi exchanged glances before Anakin put their glasses on the table and turned the tray over for closer inspection. Sure enough, a piece of flimsiplast was taped to the back, and Anakin peeled it off to read what was written on it. Though before he could even turn it around, a warning came over his Force bond with his master. Saying nothing, Anakin stuffed the plast in one of the pockets of his robes and looked at Obi Wan, who motioned towards the entrance with his head.

Sure enough a group of five especially unsavoury characters had entered, and by the way they surveyed their surroundings they were clearly looking for someone. Technically, they could have been looking for someone else, but the two Jedi hadn't survived years of war by taking chances, so they and their droid moved towards the back of the Cantina where a bricked up corridor led to... some place else, which was what they needed right now.

Their attempts at subterfuge were for naught though, because the new arrivals spotted R2 almost immediately and began to push through the crowd towards them, ignoring the angry shouts by those they shoved aside. Giving up any pretence at subtlety, Anakin pulled out his sabre, ignited it and cut a hole into the rickety wall of bricks before shoving both his master and his droid through, the latter making a short jump to clear the debris. He turned around and faced the newcomers, but they obviously hadn't expected to face a Jedi, because they hesitated for just a moment when faced with his blade.

It didn't last long, but it gave Anakin enough time to disappear through the hole and force-push them back into the crowd which, as was the nature of semi-drunks in a shady establishment, didn't take too kindly to being 'assaulted' twice.

Thus having shaken his pursuers for the moment, Anakin ran after Obi Wan and R2, using the Force to pull down disused furniture and cabinets behind him. He caught up with the others, finding them inn front of a locked durasteel door.

"Where do you think this leads, Obi Wan?"

"I have no idea, but right now, anything is better than back there, I should think."

"Agreed. On three?"

Without a word, Obi Wan ignited his own sabre and on the count of three, the two began to cut a hole in the door. With a slight Force-push the piece they'd cut out flew inwards and Anakin stepped through. He found himself in what seemed to be an abandoned speeder repair shop, on the other side of the low block the Cantina was in. Stepping past the gutted speeder that was silently rusting to oblivion, he reached for a switch near the door and flipped it. More than half of the lighting elements in the roof failed to function, but those that did cast a half-light over the room. As Anakin moved a few empty tools cabinets to cover the hole in the door, Obi Wan made his way towards one of the dust-caked windows and looked outside.

"We're in luck, Anakin. This leads to the next street over. R2, care to give me a hand?"

The little droid moved to the computer jack near the door that Obi Wan indicated and within a minute they stood on the street, walking back towards the city centre and trying not to attract attention. Anakin was burning to know what was written on the flimsiplast, but there would be a time and place.

Obi Wan was in front and as soon as he was reasonably sure that they weren't being followed, he lead them into a small side alley.

"We best get this done now, before you explode."

Anakin dead panned his usual look at this sort of barb and pulled the sheet out of his pocket.

The message was hand-written.

_General Skywalker, General Kenobi, my apologies for any inconvenience I have caused. Meet me at the coordinates below. Be sure you aren't followed, or I will not be there. Meet me two local days from now._

Anakin had read it aloud, and even though there was nothing in his voice, Obi Wan sensed through their bond that something troubled him about the message. Obi Wan decided not to broach the matter, Anakin would say something when the time was right.

"R2, where are these coordinates?" Anakin listed them off, and R2 beeped, before displaying a holographic chart of Coronet and it's surroundings. The location was, even with a speeder they didn't have, an hour or two away from their current location and, as Anakin pointed out, in the middle of nowhere, if one counted a small town as such.

"Are we dealing with someone who is doing this for the first time? Wouldn't it be smarter to meet in a crowd, considering what's been done to stop us already?"

Obi Wan had a point, Anakin conceded. "True, but Master," he said, recognizing the questions for what they were, "we could be dealing with someone who does not wish to be overheard by someone in the same crowd more than not be seen with us. Or that he wants to be able to watch our approach."

"This tells us what?" Obi Wan considered, "that he doesn't trust our ability to shake pursuit?"

"Well, considering the way you fly, Master..."

"Disrespectful little whelp!" the Jedi Master exclaimed, though with evident humour in his voice. "What you do isn't flying, it's suicide. And much too conspicuous for our current task."

"Yes, Master." Anakin was the picture of the respectful Padawan, though both knew that he was anything but on the inside, having done this particular dance way too often over the years for anything else.

"But speaking of flying, we have to try and rent a speeder, best from some place that doesn't ask too many questions. Or we could always steal one."

"No." Obi Wan said with certainty in his voice. "The last time you did that, we ended up on a nosedive through Coruscant traffic after an assassin shapeshifter. That is not an experience I care to repeat."

"Will you always remind me of that whenever I suggest just taking a speeder?"

"Considering what that set in motion, yes."

Anakin said nothing, and Obi Wan blasted himself for the unintended bite in those words. Anakin had most certainly noticed it, and Obi Wan admitted to himself that there were still things they had to talk about.

"Anakin, I..."

"I know what you meant, Master. Later."

Anakin acknowledged the apology for what it was, the boy clearly had changed lately.

"We still need to get some transport, Master."

"Drawing on the accounts again would draw undue attention. How many credits do we have left?"

The bucket of bolts they ended up renting was bad enough to entice worried beeps from R2 and a continual comment on it's likely points of failure from Anakin, but Obi Wan suspected that it was more to rile him up. He didn't let it get to him, but as they sat down in front of the low-price inn they had rented a room in, Obi Wan couldn't help but wonder about something else he felt from Anakin. As they checked in R2 as their only luggage and walked up the rickety staircase he held his tongue, but as soon as the room door had closed behind them, he spoke.

"You know who it is, don't you?"

Anakin noted that he hadn't been as circumspect with his feelings as he had to be, again.

"I suspect you know me too well, Master. But no, not with certainty. That undefinable something that is familiar, I've felt it again, stronger. When we got the message and even before then. Thinking on it now, I believe that The Watcher was in the Cantina as well, but he knows to hide his signature and physical presence well."

"And I don't suppose you'll tell me who you think it is, don't you."

Anakin only tilted his head.

"No, I wouldn't have expected you to. After all, was it not me who _tried_ to teach you not to jump to conclusions?"

* * *

><p>Later that night Anakin had a nightmare. It was not as bad as the one he'd had the night they departed from Coruscant, for he saw that his children lived, but a dark, shadowy figure was taking them away, and Padmé still died in his arms. He turned, and there was Obi Wan again and -<p>

* * *

><p>The way Anakin was tossing and turning in his bed and the way sweat was literally dropping off his body, it had to be a very, very bad nightmare. Obi Wan had woken to Anakin's cries for his wife, and he stood by his almost-brother's side within seconds. "Obi Wan... NOOOOOO!"<p>

He decided to wake him up. Whatever he dreamt about, it was bad, and his Force signature was full with worry and fear, more so than at any other time Obi Wan knew of, worse than any he'd sensed in his life. Desperate to help him, he grabbed Anakin by the shoulders and began to shake him.

As he jerked awake, Anakin sat up in his bed, nearly knocking Obi Wan over in the process.

"What is it, brother?"

He would never know what had prompted Anakin to be so uncharacteristically open that night. Maybe it was the vivid picture of the dream, loosing his children as well as his wife and being unable to prevent it, maybe it was the knowledge that Obi Wan would always be there for him as long as he breathed.

In any case, he slowly released the worst of his fears into the Force to calm himself. A few minutes later he took a deep breath and turned to Obi Wan.

"She dies, Master. They all die. And there's noting in the Force I can do about it. Each night since I found out. And the visions keep getting worse."

Anakin's ability to have those visions was a sticking point between them. The last time he had approached Obi Wan with them he had dismissed them out of hand, and that had resulted in the death of Shmi Skywalker and a tribe of Sandpeople, though no one but Padmé knew about the latter.

What Obi Wan knew though was enough to make him thread very carefully.

"Are you... certain?"

Instead of the indignant 'Of course I am' that he expected, Anakin said nothing, instead he looked away from him and stared towards the sole window in the room.

Something broke inside Obi Wan. After all these years, after everything they had done together, and even though he knew Anakin's biggest secret, he still felt that he could not give it his all.

_'And whose fault is that?'_ a voice in his head asked, sounding suspiciously like the late Qui-Gon Jinn. _'Since before he became your Padawan the Jedi Order has made it blindingly obvious that he is not trusted by the Council and that they only suffered him because they want or need to believe that he is The Chosen One. How would that make you feel? Would you find it easy to fully and completely trust anyone from within the Order?'_

Even so, Obi Wan felt hurt, because he'd thought he made it abundantly clear that Anakin could rely on him.

_'There is a reason for that.'_ the voice returned, and now Obi Wan could have sworn it was his old master, _'You told him that you wouldn't turn him in to the Council, but what after that? Have you let him know what you are going to do when his secret inevitably breaks to the Order? What are your intentions, what will you do then?'_

And with a cold clarity he realized one thing. It was decision time. And the Force showed him two choices, like a fork in the road. In one direction lay the proper way he, as much as he hated it, was pulled towards taking by his head, keep the secret, then profess ignorance as soon as it was out after which would come supporting whatever the Order wanted to do to Anakin and his family.

The other choice was the one he was pulled towards by his heart and his own very real attachments, past and present, It was the path of telling Anakin know that he would lay down his life for his wive and children, that he would support him in what he would have to do, and that when the time was right, he would stand right beside him before the Council.

And Force be damned, he had no idea what to do, but he knew that if he chose wrong, he would loose Anakin forever, one way or another. Already his soul nearly tore itself apart, for he knew that something would be lost. It remained up to him to determine what it was.

_'Oh Master,'_ he thought, _'I could sure use your guidance right now.'_

But the voice in his head remained silent.

Keeping the secret was a very easy thing to do, he merely had to say nothing and if Anakin was half as good at sneaking around as he had to be, then there would never be a time where Obi Wan would have to actively lie to the Council. It was the nice, easy and most of all, safe way.

But safe to whom? To his career in the Order, certainly. But did Anakin deserve to be dismissed from the Order and have his children taken away in one fell swoop? Because that was the most likely consequence, as the two Children of The Chosen One were already very strong in the Force. And if... no, _when_ that happened then it would destroy Anakin as a man and as a Jedi, thus making the fall to the Dark Side that everyone feared would come from his being married and having divided loyalties just that much more easy.

Though if he chose to help Anakin, he might be dismissed right along with him. But then when the Children were born, then he would be there to help his friend and his Brother. He would be able to defend them from being taken, he would be able to help Anakin be the father he was sure he could be.

And that, Obi Wan thought, was what he was going to do. Not because it was the smart thing to do, as it certainly wasn't, but because it was the _right_ thing to do.

After all, he thought with a slight pang of guilt, he knew very well what happened if a Jedi chose the Order over attachment. An unbidden picture of a certain blonde flashed through his head, along with the inevitable sense of loss and regret.

No, he chose then and there, Anakin would not have to go through that. And if the Council did not like it, then damn them.

All he had to do know was to tell Anakin and make him believe.

_'Tell him the truth, without censoring yourself, and the Force will show you the way.'_

"Anakin, if I could change what happened to your mother, I would. I am so, so sorry that I dismissed it then. I won't do it now. I promise you. I promise you that I will always stand with you like I have since you became my Padawan. You saved me more than once, and you've always helped me, so let me do this for you. I beg you."

"Wouldn't this go against... the Council?" Anakin said, almost spitting the last word.

"Anakin you broke the Jedi Code about as badly as it's possible. You can't expect me to just make up and forget that!"

That had been the wrong thing to say, because Anakin's face clouded with anger. He opened his mouth to say something, but Obi Wan cut him off before he could.

"Let me finish, my former Padawan. You will let me speak, and you will listen. You broke the code. You broke the code and got married, never mind the twins. By rights, I should go to the Council right away, make you turn in your lightsabre and then turn in my own for having kept your secret. And the council would be well within it's right... no, it's _DUTY_ to expel us both. Force, I've ignored making this call since before the war. And I will make it now. Anakin, I will stand by you and Padmé through everything. If I have anything to do with it, you will have the family you want, and it will make you happy. Council be damned."

Astonished at this dismissal of the Order by the strict and rule-bound Obi Wan, Anakin only managed to force a "Why?" past his vocal cords.

"I'll tell you why. Anakin, you are my brother. You aren't like one, you ARE one. Force knows I've formed attachments of my own over the years, but I'll roast in all the Sith Hells if I am going to dismiss that just so. And if you need more..."

Obi Wan paused, desperately struggling for the words he needed. "Anakin, even a blind, deaf non-Force user would notice how happy she makes you. All those times I wondered why you were so happy and well-tempered while we were on Coruscant, and why you were morose when we left, that's because of _her_. People say that a wife can be someone's better half, and with you it's true. I've seen it when the two of you are together, and now that I know what to look for, I can see it even now. You deserve it, and I would never take it away from you."

**tbc**  
><strong><br>**  
><strong>Can you tell that I think R2 is awesome?<strong>  
><strong><br>**  
><strong>Anyway, I believe that Obi Wan acted the way he did because deep down he knew damn well that he would stand with Anakin, but he didn't want to admit to himself that he was willing to act against the Council, thus proving that he had broken the code as well with his brotherly attachment to Anakin. <strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The look on Anakin's face at what he had said broke Obi Wan's heart all over again. It was gratitude in a way he had never seen on anyone's face, never mind his irascible, self-assured former Padawan. Bereft of something to say under the circumstances, he just stared in his eyes, trying to convey the truth of his words both by this manner and through their Force bond.

Neither would ever know how long they were sitting there like that, but by the time Anakin smiled, somewhat more at ease now, Obi Wan decided that he best explain himself now that the opportunity was there.

"Master, I..."

"I'm not done yet, Anakin."

Obi Wan took a deep breath, more to steady himself than for anything else. "You probably wonder why."

Anakin, tilting his head and giving a weak smile, nodded. "I can't say that I didn't, Master."

"My friend, you're not the first Jedi to fall in love."

He said nothing more, but let Anakin feel him over the Force bond, and soon his old friend looked at him quizzically, but said nothing. Instead Anakin calmed down visibly and sighed.

"Obi Wan, if she dies... I don't know what I'm going to do. I..." Anakin paused, searching for the right words to express the turmoil that still raged within him. "If she dies, I will be all but dead myself. Padmé and the children, they are my life. Anything else doesn't matter to me."

He hated having to ask the obvious question, but he didn't know if it was because he feared what Anakin might answer or because it might set him off.

"Everything, really?"

He didn't give Anakin the chance to answer, but instead he said something he knew he would never reveal to anyone else.

"Anakin... you're not the first Jedi to fall in love."

He said nothing more, instead leaving Anakin to draw his own conclusion.

"You?"

Anakin's incredulity was evident.

"Oh, nothing ever really came of it, and you very well know that." Obi Wan replied with only a tinge of regret, "But I want you to finally understand, _you are not alone_."

"Thank you, Master."

"Besides, isn't the point of those visions that the Force is telling you to do something about these events?"

"Of course, I..."

"And I will be right there beside you, making sure that you are there when the twins are born."

Obi Wan didn't need to be a Force sensitive to know what was Anakin's other big worry. "As for the Council..."

That was a thorny issue. Anakin's most frequent complaint was that they held him back and did not trust him, and much to his regret Obi Wan had to admit that it was at least partly true. But in this moment a bigger worry was that they would demand his children for study and training as soon as they were born. The moment he realized that, Obi Wan also knew that Mustafar would become a winter sport resort before Anakin would allow that to happen.

So whatever he did, they were headed for a direct and open confrontation with the Council. He didn't even consider siding against Anakin.

"As for the Council," he repeated, and modified one of his own Master's favourite sayings, "live in the moment, tomorrow, or when your children are born, the Council shall take care of itself. And I will be right there beside you, as will Padmé. You are not, nor will you ever be alone."

Anakin said nothing, considering his dreams in the context of what Obi Wan had said. What was it that Master Yoda had said? _'Accepting help, weakness it is not.'_

"Thank you, Obi Wan."

"Now, try and get some more sleep. We have a great deal of work to do tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Anakin had a second dream that night. At first it was like the other one, but then it changed, as his field of view panned back, and there he himself stood, Obi Wan by his side, both looking on with worry. The picture changed, and he saw Padmé, very much alive and beaming like there was no tomorrow, cradling their children in her arms.<p>

* * *

><p>Early the next morning they both rose just after local sunrise, packed their belongings and left their rooms forever. Without having to actually talk about it they had decided that they would spend the day scouting the city and the next night in the bushes some way away from the meeting point. As Anakin loaded their speeder, Obi Wan checked the map again, and according to the Corellia mapping survey of last year, the point was about a hundred klicks or so from a small town of about twenty-thousand residents.<p>

As he was so busy, he never noticed the approach of the boy, nor did R2 or Anakin.

Jedi usually travelled light, but for a change they went disguised, so Anakin was loading a bag that contained their robes and provisions.

By the time Anakin had wheeled around on his feet and taken off after him, the boy was already half a block down the street.

Anakin yelled at Obi Wan to stay put as he ran as fast as he could without using the force, which was impossible on the already relatively crowded street.

The boy was fast in spite of his load, Anakin had to admit that. Just as he was about to reach him, the boy headed off into a side alley, Anakin hot on his heels. He briefly considered calling on CorSec to catch the thief, but that would only lead to uncomfortable questions, so instead he ran even faster.

Much to Anakin's amazement, the boy almost got away in spite of being a non-force user. Anakin leapt over a trash-droid the boy had kicked over to delay him and as he landed, the boy seemed to have gone.

But since he was a very powerful Jedi, Anakin did not despair. Instead he reached out into the force and looked for a hidden presence relatively nearby.

Sure enough, he sensed the boy's presence hidden inside a discarded wardrobe.

He decided that igniting his sabre would be overkill, so instead he opened the door.

What he saw was almost comical. Inside and caked with dust, was the boy, defiantly holding the bag and looking back at Anakin as if he had no intention to admit his wrongdoing, and, like any good Corellian, didn't care one jot for the odds he was facing. What was more, he noticed it was the same boy they had seen running out of the Cantina.

Anakin sighed, and trying to end this without any further trouble.

"Would you please give me that bag? If you do, you can leave. No trouble."

"Why should I. Maybe you stole it yourself."

Anakin rolled his eyes and decided to try something else.

Reaching into the Force, he waved his right hand in front of the boy's face.

"You will give me the bag." Wave. "You will go home and re-think your life."

But he knew instantly that the boy was to strong-minded, a thought that was reinforced when he spoke for the first time.

"Why should I, your high and mightyness?"

So much for that idea. The little scoundrel may be many things, but weak of mind wasn't one of them, so Anakin settled for a more direct approach. He force-pulled the back out of the boy's hand.

Said boy only stared at what the Jedi had done and was about to run off as Anakin used the Force to pull the boy out of the wardrobe and placed him on his feet.

"Never try to steal from a Jedi again."

Not waiting for an answer, he turned and walked back towards where he knew Obi Wan was waiting.

"Did you loose him?" came the question as he returned with the bag but without the boy.

"No, I let him go," Anakin shook his head, "he was just someone who stole out of need, not because he wanted to. He'll grow up to be either a model citizen of the Republic and join the Fleet or the sort of roguish scoundrel I would keep a daughter away from at all costs."

"With luck, you'll never see him again, even if you have a daughter." Obi Wan smirked. "Though he might be a lot like you when he's reached your age."

"And for that I will be flying."

Jumping into the pilot's seat before Obi Wan could stop him, Anakin somehow felt elated and free, more so than he had in weeks.

Obi Wan chuckled and took his place as Anakin flipped the switches that started the repulsor lifts and the thrusters. Once in the air, they headed out towards the back-country using the standard traffic lanes. R2 was stored safely in the back, keeping an eye out for anyone who might pursue them.

In the beginning they didn't speak, but eventually Anakin slowed down and said, loud in order to be heard over the noise of the open-topped speeder: "If the situation was reversed, would you have told me?"

Taken aback by the sudden and very serious question, Obi Wan just stared at his fellow Jedi.

"Anakin..."

There was the crux of the matter. If he had been in a similar situation, would he have told his Padawan? And deep down he realized that he wouldn't have. That being said, did he have any right to complain about Anakin not telling him? They had done it to protect him, Anakin had done it so that he, Obi Wan, wouldn't have to choose between him and the Order.

For all the good that had done.

So he said nothing, only trying to communicate his understanding through their bond.

**tbc**  
><strong><br>**  
><strong><br>**  
><strong> This was cobbled together from bits and pieces. For example, the speeder exchange was supposed to go into their travel-time to Corellia but didn't make the cut then because I thought it wasn't the right time for that particular conversation.<strong>  
><strong><br>**

This is also the reason why this is so short. I couldn't think of anything to padd it with.


	9. Chapter 9

Please don't hate me for what I did in it.

**Chapter 9**

The settlement they reached was tiny, even for local standards. Around twenty-thousand inhabitants would have been nothing more than a small town even in planets that had yet to discover space travel.

Even so, to Obi Wan it was a bustling little settlement and judging by the construction activity going on around it, it would not remain small for long. It was probably because of the mining activity he could see as they came in.

As Anakin brought the speeder in to insert them into the local traffic, such as it was, Obi Wan checked thehardcopy map of the town R2 had printed out on the way over, with their meeting point clearly marked. The town lay in a low, north-south, and narrow valley, even now filling out the space between the two rows of peaks, with the biggest mining operation to the north of the town in easy walking distance. Apparently a big deposit of one of the primary durasteel ingredients was being exploited here, feeding the shipyards in orbit.

The co-ordinates for the meeting point turned out to be at the edge, on the opposite end of the town from the small intra-system spaceport. Unfortunately the resolution for the map was too wide to make out more than the address, so they would have to look at the location before going in.

Obi Wan only glanced at Anakin who nodded in reply before guiding the speeder over the town to the street where they would meet their elusive contact. The building itself turned out to be unfinished, probably a victim of the war's economic upheval. It seemed abandoned and when asked, R2 confirmed that it was. Clearly, their contact wasn't risking drawing attention to their meet ahead of time. Obi Wan registered this with approval, but couldn't help but wonder who it was that had taught their contact all that.

"Where to?"

Obi Wan checked the map again and found that the city was arrayed around a central square almost large enough to land a Jedi Cruiser. According to his map it was surrounded by rows of shops, cantinas and other establishments that catered to the mine workers, their droids and the few tourists that found their way here, as most of the bigger winter sport resorts where on the other side of the mountain range.

"Set us down near the square, we should be able to find something to eat there."

"Yes, my Master." replied Anakin. "We should have a look at it on foot some this afternoon before we take up position."

Without talking about it they had decided to spend the night nearby in the hope to get the drop on their contact, but Obi Wan strongly suspected that it wouldn't work.

In the meantime they would wait.

But first they explored the city, mostly scouting out escape routes from their meeting point before eating lunch at one of the places around the square. Both wore cloaks to disguise their identities, but what they picked up of the conversations of the people around them indicated that before the war, the town had experienced a something of a building boom. That had stopped when the war began as most of Corellia's industrial strength was fed into the shipyards that gave the system most of it's economy.

The mining operations were for the most part in the hands of two or three major conglomerates who had swallowed up all the smaller ones and who had no interest in expanding office and other types of infrastructure they didn't need. Especially since almost all the actual mining work was done by droids.

So for all intents and purposes the building Obi Wan and Anakin entered was as much a victim of the war as was the one they intended to survey. They had taken R2 and their possessions along but left the droid with the speeder two streets away, so they had to rely on the Force and their training to prevent them from triggering any potential alarm systems. As it turned out, there was little to fear. Apart from a few easily circumvented motion detectors that didn't even cover half the grounds there were no systems there, and by the state of the building, the owner didn't really care about it either way.

The two Jedi climbed up to the fourth level and settled in to wait.

By then it was getting dark, and Obi Wan reflected on how similar, yet different this was to the way they'd spent days upon days all over the galaxy, even before the war.

When he remarked on this to Anakin, the first reply was a bale of laughter, much to his own surprise.

"Master," answered Anakin when he had calmed down, "this is nothing like what it was during the war. And even before the war someone would have shot at us by now. This have been the most peaceful few days I've... we've had in years. Don't jinx it."

Obi Wan grinned. "I don't intend to, Anakin. But you must admit, we've done this sort of thing a lot."

"That we have... that we have."

With a deep sigh, Anakin half-turned to look directly at Obi Wan.

"Obi Wan... right now my biggest wish is to take Padmé, hide somewhere on the outer rim and come back when the twins are around twenty."

"An understandable and very, very normal wish, Anakin." Obi Wan padded Anakin's shoulder to reassure him. "And I suspect you will have ample opportunity to do so eventually."

"When they expel me from the order, you mean."

"No."

Obi Wan shook his head.

"They might expel you, they might not. Whatever happens my brother, this war will not last forever. And when it is over, I will see to it personally. If someone has deserved it, it's you."

Anakin displayed a thin, somewhat uncertain smile, but his genuine gratitude was evident when he spoke. "Thank you, Obi Wan. Force knows what I would end up as without you by my side."

"And I will do it. For myself as much as for you. I'll take the first watch."

Both Jedi spent the next hours alternating between meditation and keeping a lookout so that one of them would always have his eyes on the other building. Anakin found it easier than usual of late to centre himself as he had to when using Obi Wan's favourite technique. By the time he was supposed to relieve him, he slowly returned himself from the state of mind this technique always brought on.

Suddenly though he felt... something.

There, just at the edge of even his Force-enhanced perception something hovered. He knew he had felt it before, and he knew it was familiar. But even has be probed deeper into the Force towards... whatever it was, it faded, as if trying to hide itself. That made it someone's force presence. He could clearly feel Obi Wan's presence beside him, because of their bond and because of the close proximity but that other person...

Outwardly the only sign of all this was a habitual frown that he always wore when something bugged him that he couldn't figure out, even with his closed eyes. Obi Wan noticed that something was going on, but he knew better than to say anything and break Anakin's concentration. Instead he kept his eyes on the street below, looking for anyone or anything that could penetrate Anakin's concentration like this.

It continued in this manner for some time.

Until Anakin's eyes snapped open and turned towards Obi Wan.

"I sense something." he said, "A presence I haven't felt since..."

"What is it?"

Anakin jumped to his feet and ran down the staircase without another word. Obi Wan sighed and followed.

They quickly dashed over the street and into the other building.

Obi Wan was tempted to call on Anakin to stop, but he knew better than to try, because he knew that he would be ignored. Luckily the street was dark and empty so no one saw them, or saw Anakin as he kicked in the metal gate on the other side and rushed into the building. The door of the building was no great hindrance, but it allowed Obi Wan to catch up.

"Anakin, let's do this properly, shall we?"

Closing his eyes, Anakin took a deep breath and agreed. "Yes, Obi Wan. Our... contact is probably entering from the back, I didn't see anyone on the street." he whispered.

"Agreed." replied Obi Wan, and decided against asking just what Anakin had felt. Over the bond he sensed a mixture of trepidation and joy, and the way it felt to himself gave him a strong suspicion about it. He would see and find out.

The two Jedi slowly and silently made their way into the building. It wasn't any more secure than where they'd spent the afternoon, if anything it was even less cared for if the constant sound of dripping water was anything to go by. In some ways Obi Wan felt as if they were in a bad horror vid, but there were always things that seemed clichéd.

It was obvious that the building had once been intended as a corporate headquarters of a small-sized company looking to expand, as evidenced by the open ground though now overgrown ground in the middle of the complex. He and Anakin stood at one end, in a place half-hidden by overgrown bushes that had once been mere ornaments, but there was enough moonlight for them to see a solitary figure about a head shorter than Anakin slowly make it's way towards them.

Before he could stop him, Anakin stepped out into the moonlight, clearly visible, and said: "Long time no see, Snips."

* * *

><p>Everyone present seemed to freeze for an eternity, though they all knew later that it was no more than a minute or two. Anakin just stood there, looking at his former Padawan with a fond smile on his face, while Obi Wan glanced back and forth between him and Ahsoka Tano.<p>

The still young Togruta was visibly uncomfortable. She had drawn back the hood of her cloak, and defiantly stood in place, daring either of the Jedi to say anything, though he knew her well enough to be able to tell that much of it was a front.

Hardly surprising to Obi Wan, considering how she and the order had parted, and he felt a pang of guilt for his own part in it. Oddly enough the one who had suffered the most from the aftermath of that whole unfortunate affair had been the one who least deserved it. He didn't know what it would be worth or how it would be received, but he resolved to apologize to her if he had an opportunity to do so.

"I should have known that you would find me sooner than I expected... Master."

Anakin ignored the pointed hesitation on the last word and took a few steps towards her. When Ahsoka didn't withdraw, he grinned at her.

"Oh, I suspected for a while that you had something to do with it. I thought I taught you better than to use your own handwriting to send clandestine messages, my still very young Padawan."

"I'm not a Padawan, remember?" she spat, but Anakin knew not to take it personally. 'You'll always be my Padawan' he didn't say to her, as he sensed that she wouldn't be receptive to his own brand of humour right now. Instead he closed the distance between them and just offered his hand in greeting.

"It's great to see you anyway. We missed you."

Ahsoka threw a quick glance over at Obi Wan who only smiled and nodded. "Ahsoka."

She didn't reply, and instead turned back to her old Master.

"General, I-"

"Oh Sithspit, Ahsoka!" Anakin interrupted, "You said yourself, you're not my Padawan any more, so I wish you'd call me by my name."

She pulled back the hood of her cloak, and made the sort of face that she'd always had when she was thinking hard. It pleased Anakin to no end that the old Ahsoka wasn't completely gone. He didn't really blame Obi Wan any more for his part in what had happened to her, but now more than ever he fully intended to bring it up with the Council again.

At any rate, by the way she looked at them he knew that it would take more convincing than that.

"It is good to see you, Ahsoka." he said trying to insert himself in the conversation.

Anakin watched as she almost flinched when Obi Wan spoke to her. It took only a few seconds for her to reign in her emotions, but until she did, the old Ahsoka he'd always known, the one he'd more seen as the sister he'd never had than a 'mere' Padawan was out.

"Thank you, Master Kenobi."

The hesitation was gone, but they all knew that she still hadn't forgiven the Jedi Council or anyone who was on it. It wasn't that she hated them, of that Anakin was sure, but he had come to understand why she had left the order.

An awkward silence settled over the courtyard.

More to break it than for any other purpose Anakin crossed the distance between them and held out his hand in greeting, with an open, honest smile on his face.

With a hesitant smile on her own face, Ahsoka extended a blue-gloved hand of her own and shook his. "It is good to see you again, Skyguy."

"Insolence! Obi Wan, see what I had to deal with?"

Anakin didn't have to look to see the smirk in Obi Wan's face. "Welcome to my world for ten years, my former Padawan."

He didn't get to say anything in reply. Just as he opened his mouth, all three Jedi tensed. They all sensed the threat around them, and by the time the first blaster bolts came flying, two lightsabres and a blaster pistol were out.

Anakin and Obi Wan deflected bolts back at their attackers in the gallery one storey up, while Ahsoka ran over to join them, firing as she went.

"BACK THROUGH THE DOOR!" Anakin yelled to be heard over the din of battle. He all but shoved Ahsoka towards Obi Wan who motioned for her to go. Obi Wan was first through while Anakin covered their back. Ahsoka covered behind the door to cover him as he slowly retreated towards them.

Once he was through she slammed her free fist on the button that closed the door, following it up by a shot into the electronics.

"Follow me, I have speeder out the back."

She took off down the corridor without waiting for an answer, so Anakin and Obi Wan had no choice but to follow.

Ahsoka led them through a maze of abandoned corridors and offices towards the back of the building. After what seemed like an eternity, Anakin saw her stop. She motioned for them to wait as she pressed a button that opened it.

Behind it Anakin saw an open space landing padd on a raised platform. Parked on it and barely visible in the moonlight . He looked at her, and she shook her head. "I can't see any guards, and... I don't sense any either."

"But," Anakin replied with a glance at Obi Wan, "this is too perfect and probably a trap."

"Yes. They didn't come in the front or you would have seen them, and any half-decent mercenary or bounty hunter would have put someone to guard it."

"So, who goes out?"

"I'll go." Anakin said before either Ahsoka or Obi Wan could say anything. When both were about to protest, he waved it away. "I'll be fine. I'm not going to take too many stupid risks now that I have even more to get back to."

He glanced at Ahsoka who was puzzled, but decided to forgo asking for a more proper time, especially when Anakin shot her an apologetic glance that hinted at the promise of more.

Anakin pulled up the hood from his robes.

He dashed from cover to cover, using the abandoned boxes and bits of machinery between the building and the pad to shield his movements. Looking on, Obi Wan and Ahsoka expected a blaster bolt out of the blue every time he moved, but he managed to reach the speeder.

Anakin pulled down the hood. He never reached the speeder though.

He hesitated half-way across the map before turning and running back towards the building, though the speeder exploded before he had taken more than a half-dozen steps. Anakin fell forward with his robes smouldering and some of his hair singed away.

**tbc**

**To the readers who I haven't sent running into the far reaches by including Ahsoka Tano, let me explain why I did it:**

**Not having heard/read anything in that regard, I think it likely at least that we would have heard her fate eventually on the show had it not been canned. Secondly, I always liked her as a Character, if only as a mirror Anakin could look into, because by all accounts she was a lot like him in many ways.**

**Thirdly, her being... well, a part of all this fits in nicely with what I have in mind for later, though I do have to say, I did not plan it like this. I was going to use an original character, but at some point I had an "Dude, whatever happened to..." moment...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Oddly, it was Obi Wan who broke cover first and reached Anakin. When she saw him run, Ahsoka remained behind and watched how the elder Jedi Master reached Anakin and quickly examined him. Much to her eternal relief, Anakin began to move on his own and only needed minor assistance to make his way back to her.

For Anakin, the world was still spinning, and he was glad to have Obi Wan to lean on, and his ringing ears didn't help either. He knew that he had narrowly escaped death, and had the still smoking robes and singed hair to tell the story.

When they reached and gone through the door where Ahsoka was hiding, Anakin leaned against the wall to regain his bearings.

"We have a speeder too, and our gracious hosts haven't found it yet."

"How do you know?"

"R2 would have called us." Obi Wan said, "So I do suggest that we go there as fast as we can, because they are bound to have heard the racket you have been making."

He had turned to Anakin with the second sentence, and was glad to see that he was at least not seriously wounded, though he would need new robes and a haircut.

"Me?" Anakin replied, moving away from the wall and checking for his lightsabre as he did so.

He found what he was looking for and took it off his belt without igniting it.

"I never make any noise like that, Master. You on the other hand..."

Obi Wan was about to reply when Ahsoka cleared her throat.

"As much as I like to watch the two of you bicker like an old married couple, we do have places to be."

Going by her voice, she was annoyed, but her grin and her eyes told a different story entirely.

Anakin looked at Obi Wan. "Lead the way then."

They had no real hope of reaching the front entrance without being seen if they went around the outside of the building, but when they backtracked and moved through the rooms and corridors, they had, in Anakin's estimation, a better than even chance to either slip by entirely or at least to negate the larger numbers of their attackers. He noted with approval that Ahsoka did so as well. She took the lead and used her sense of orientation and the force to guide them through the lower levels.

It all worked perfectly.

Except that they ran into a search party almost immediately. The two mercenaries didn't even have the time to call for help before the three Jedi had overcome them, but noise made by the short fight attracted the rest.

A running battle ensued that slowly drove them towards the main entrance. At one point, just as they went around a corner, Ahsoka hung back. Anakin noticed, but before he could do more than turn on his heels, she had already stripped off her cloak.

Below the cloak she wore an outfit that couldn't have been more different than what he remembered. A light grey undershirt, an open but high-sleeved brown pilot's jacket, with blue Corellian military trousers and black leather boots, nothing too fancy, but it underscored just how much she had changed since leaving the order.

Ahsoka stood there, blithely ignoring the blaster bolts that zipped past her. She reached out into the force and created an incredibly strong pocket of condensed air in front of her. She pushed it down the corridor towards their pursuers.

It was strong enough to rip fastened fixtures from the ceiling of the utility corridor they were in shortly before collapsing it along with the walls on the side for the length of what Anakin thought had to be half the building. It effective, impressive and far beyond anything she'd been capable of when she'd left the Order.

Ahsoka turned around and walked past him, picking up her cloak as she went. When she noticed that Anakin was staring at her, she stopped and looked in his eyes. "What? I had a lot of time on my hands."

There was a tiny, tiny bite in her voice and even without it Anakin would have known better than to ask further. If and when she was ready to tell, he would find out. Obi Wan was about to ask her anyway, only stopping when Anakin motioned for him not to with a slight of his hand.

So both made a mental note to talk to her later as they followed the corridor to a door that, as it turned out, led to the lobby of the building.

Said lobby was sparse, with little more than the barest furniture for a bank of reception droids that had never been installed, but the desk crossed the reception area in a half-circle and behind it, six mercenaries had taken cover, and one of them had manhandled an heavy repeating blaster into place. The only exit from the building was off to the right, with an almost cover-less open space between the two sides.

Anakin and the others took cover behind the only other features in the room, a set of empty flowerbeds that had been meant to decorate the reception area.

The heavy blaster began to shower everything with bolts, and the other mercenaries joined in. Two of them tried to flank them on their right, only to be picked off by Ahsoka. For the moment it was a stalemate, but that wouldn't last, as the one side had both numbers and fire-power.

"Snips, can you get a shot at them?" Anakin yelled to be heard over the blaster bolts.

Instead of answering, Ahsoka tried to peek around the corner of the column she was hiding behind, but a bolt missed her head only by the width of a human hair. She just shook her head, but still blind fired a few bolts at their enemies. "Doesn't look like it, Master."

Anakin sighed, and instead checked Obi Wan, who was trying to use a broken piece of decorative reflective material shot loose from the flowerbed he was covering behind to look around the obstruction. What was he looking for? Through the Force they knew how many mercenaries were there and where they had taken cover.

"Anakin?"

"Yes?"

Instead of a reply, Obi Wan pointed up at the ceiling. Sure enough there was an empty transparent tank of some sort, probably some sort of Aquarium as Anakin knew of no other reason to place it where it was. As in exactly in front of the reception desk. The problem was that it was anchored with durasteel bands set in ferrocrete, and even as he tried, Anakin realized that between his wounds and the knock on the head from his fall he was too... off balance at the moment to have more than a very basic control over his abilities.

"Master, I..."

"Stand aside, Skyguy!" came Ahsoka's voice and she only looked at them both with grim determination on her face.

Obi Wan just shrugged and then nodded at her.

Both closed their eyes and began to manipulate the tank. At first their efforts seemed to have little effect, but after a short while whisps of crumpled ferrocrete began to rain down, and soon enough the metal fastenings began to snap loose one after another. It was only when the first two clanged to the ground that the mercenaries noticed what was going on, and they started to back away.

It was too late by then. With an all-mighty groan, the tank began to dip down before the last bits of metal gave way and the entire thing came crashing down.

Neither Jedi waited. Even though their ears were ringing and the entire area was covered with dust and debris, including them, they ran. They ran past the stunned mercenaries and out the door, and much to their relief they were neither being followed nor immediately attacked. To all of them the fresh night air was a liberation after the smell of wet decay they had moved in for the last hour. It took them only minutes to reach the speeder, where Ahsoka had a joyful reunion with another old friend.

"So, where to next?" Obi Wan asked as they settled into their seats. "We have a rented shuttle at the capital we could use..."

He trailed off when a speeder flew over them and towards the building.

"No. I have a shuttle that I own, and I won't leave it behind." Ahsoka said.

"What shuttle? And there are bound to be more mercenaries waiting for us there. Force, they could have taken it away already."

Ahsoka swerved around some sort of obstruction and around a corner. "They better not have. That shuttle and what's inside is all I own."

The speeder hopped over a night-swarmer who was crawling along at barely above walking pace and settled down again. "Anyway," she said, "when I arrived, the port was filled almost to capacity. It shouldn't be too hard to sneak in.

Anakin, stifling a groan at every turn now that the adrenaline was wearing off. He had scrapes and bruises, along with a few first-degree burns, nothing that would even leave a scar, but right now they were very painful at every jolt. Of which there were plenty with Ahsoka's driving style.

"I hope it has a first-aid kit." he groaned after another stab of pain. Ahsoka didn't even turn her head.

However, he was surprised to notice that there seemed to be tattered remnants and fringes of their Force Bond left between them, presumably what had allowed him to feel her presence so early, and through it he felt intense worry. Though he was not happy to notice that there also seemed to be a healthy dose of mistrust. Between his pain and the almost totally severed state of the bond he coudln't see if it was directed at him or Obi Wan specifically or at the Jedi Order, all very good ideas considering what had happened to her.

"It's a T-51b shuttle, Master. It has a system at least as good as when we liberated Jabba's son."

Even though he wasn't really filled with confidence at that statement, something else took precedence over any snarky comment he may have made.

"How did you get your hands on one of those?"

Ahsoka hesitated. They were speeding down a street that was emptier than Anchorhead during a drought, but she still concentrated on it for a short time.

With a sigh she replied: "I... inherited it, Master."

Her tone of voice was a good indicater that that was all she chose to reveal at the moment. He glanced at Obi Wan, shrugged and then concentrated on their surroundings. If his estimates were correct, they would reach the spaceport soon.

* * *

><p>Ahsoka had been right. As they stood two landing bays down from where she had parked her shuttle, it had taken them less than ten minutes to traverse the space port, including circumventing the laughable security precautions. The shuttle had a sleek form that cried speed, and was hyper-capable like all of her class. From where he was, he could see three badly disguised weapon ports, which didn't bode well for Corellian security inspections.<p>

Still, that left the matter of the two guards. They had to assume that they knew what had transpired, and even though he had to allow five to ten minutes for the building to be searched, he knew that they would have company soon enough.

Obi Wan and Ahsoka were aware of that too. "Luckily my blaster had a stun setting, Master."

"Are you certain that's wise, Ahsoka?" Obi Wan asked.

The reply was prompt. "We don't have time for the usual methods. If there's one thing I learned while away from the Order it was that sometimes you have to be blunt and to the point."

Obi Wan decided to ignore the stab and only stepped aside without a word.

Once again discarding her cloak, Ahsok ran out from their hiding place and towards the bay that held her shuttle. As soon as the guards spotted her, she enhanced her speed with the Force and jumped on the walls of the neighbouring bay, off from it and then landed inbetween the guards and her shuttle, stunning them both with accurate bolts before they had completed their turns.

The two Jedi looked at each other, but Anakin shrugged. "I didn't teach her that."

"But it certainly looks like something you would do. Let's get over there before the rest of them arrives."

Anakin rolled his eyes and followed Obi Wan.

By the time they'd reached the shuttle, the ramp was lowered and Ahsoka already in the cockpit, doing an emergency power-up sequence.

True to it's class, the shuttle's interior was half-filled by a set of massive hyperdrive engines that, as they would later find out, allowed her to go .45 past lightspeed, a small sleeping/cooking/general usage compartment with three berths, a small mechanic's station and a refresher, a tiny medbay which Anakin headed for immediately, a communications booth that contained a comm set that skirted the edges of legality and the cockpit. Below their feet were storage compartments that held provisions and most of Ahsokas other belongings. The cockpit was of a layout made for couriers, all together giving it the mix that spoke to customers that wanted messages or small things sent and coudln't or did not want to trust the holonet.

Most couriers prided themselves on their discretion and ability to get out of most situations, and that was probable helped by the probably highly illegal weapons fit that Obi Wan could see as he strapped himself into the co-pilot's seat, knowing that Anakin would want to take care of his wounds himself.

Two forward rapid fire laser cannons and a single proton torpedo launcher, a ventral and dorsal twin laser turret each, and a single aft-mounted laser on a swivel mount. A gifted pilot like Ahsoka could probably take this one to the Outer Rim and back again.

"Welcome aboard the _Steam Runner_, Master. Strap yourself in." she said without looking up from her controls.

He had barely done so when she fired up the repulsorlifts and then the main engine. The shuttle shot into the air, and as she banked to make a slow turn taking them away from the city, Obi Wan looked through the windows and saw a speeder unloading more mercenaries. Their few shots did nothing but alert CorSec.

In the end Corellian authorities had nothing more than a few dead mercenaries and several false identities to pursue.

**tbc**  
><strong><br>**  
><strong><br>**  
><strong>I'm imagining the Force Wave Ahsoka did as a sort of enhanced form of the classic Force Push from the Jedi Knights game series.<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The voyage back to Coruscant was very quiet, as all of them spent it in meditation, all for reasons of their own. The knew that if something came up, R2 would bring them back, the Astromech droid being very dependable in these situations. Only when they were challenged by Coruscant Traffic Control during their approach to the planet did Ahsoka emerge from within the Force, and found that her insecurities were no less then when they'd left Corellia. To her Coruscant symbolized so many things that had gone wrong in her past, and she sensed that many more things would go wrong in the future.

She knew that much of her anxiety stemmed from the very real chance that she might be forced to enter the Jedi Temple once more, the one place on the planet she had sworn she'd never see again. Would her old Master go against her own very obvious wishes? She glanced over at where he and Obi Wan were still in meditation, and shook her head. No, he wouldn't. Whatever he'd teased her with, he had always respected her once he'd gotten to know her during that battle so long ago, and even though something about him was different. She couldn't put her finger on it, but somehow he seemed to be less... haunted. In the past there had always been some sort of reserve about him, like he had always been holding something back when he interacted with anyone, even her. She had pegged onto this in what little conversation they'd made during the trip.

"Master?" she said softly.

Anakin opened one of his eyes and gave her the sort of scrutiny that would have had her in bales of laughter a year ago. "We're close to Coruscant then?"

"Yes. I've chosen a spaceport on the opposite side from the senate quarter, but I don't have the means to access transport."

Anakin didn't either. He glanced over to where Obi Wan had risen and was now entering the refresher. "Hrm." He considered options for a moment.

"R2," he said, "As soon as we've landed, contact m.. the Senator and ask her to arrange for a speeder to meet us at..."

He glanced at Ahsoka who promptly supplied the name and co-ordinates of the spaceport they were headed for. R2 beeped an affirmative and connected to the shuttle's systems. Twenty minutes later the shuttle entered the approach lane and inserted itself into the constant traffic.

After she had landed the shuttle, Ahsoka insisted on dealing with the usual drudgeries of landing on the capital of the Republic and Anakin used this opportunity to speak to Obi Wan alone.

"Master, what do we do with her? She won't enter the Temple willingly, but the council will insist on interrogating her when we tell them that she is involved. Not only about being approached by Sith agents but also about her new force abilities."

"Look at you being the responsible one for a change." Obi Wan replied with a smirk. He sobered up quickly though. "But I figured about as much."

He knew that it was one of those times again where he had to make an instant decision, and one that would once again force him to choose between duty and what he felt was the right ting to do. "What compels us to tell them that it was Ahsoka we met? Considering that we have had little chance to actually talk to her about what has taken place, there's no need to tell she is involved."

Obi Wan sighed. "I don't like withholding information from the Council, but it would not be the first time. Remember that -"

"I know, Obi Wan." Anakin said and frowned. "Hm. I think there is a place where she could stay until we know what is going on here."

The elder Jedi Master had no idea what Anakin meant. They had left Corellia without any clear idea what to do when they reached Coruscant.

"Well, Padmé's rooms should be large enough."

True enough, but Obi Wan could instantly think of two things that could go wrong with that idea.

Anakin gave a strangely hesitant smile. "Obi Wan, if I want her to trust me, then I have to show her that I trust her implicitly. What would show that more than telling her my biggest secret without any conditions? Oh, she will be furious that I kept it from her in the first place, but in the end she'll come around."

"Who will?"

Ahsoka was leaning against the forward landing gear and watched two grown Jedi act like younglings caught with their hands on the cookie jar with a bemused expression.

"You'll find out soon enough." Anakin said, visibly pulling himself together.

"Anakin, you know that she'll come herself, no matter the risks." Obi Wan said to Anakin who replied with an exhasperated grin.

"Of course she will, which is why I didn't bother to tell her not to. You know how she is. Come on."

Without waiting for an answer or one of the others to follow, Anakin walked away towards the terminal building of the spaceport.

Ahsoka brought up the rear with R2, a smile on her face and secure in the knowledge that she hadn't been imagining things after all.

The basic layout of the terminal was nothing exceptional, being similar to facilities all over the Galaxy. Of course that was where the similarities ended. Instead of the usual two or three landing decks in addition to the berths on the massive ferrocrete space around the building, this one had five, and was furnished about as gaudy as you could expect from a facility that serviced this half of Coruscant. Most of the patrons that frequented the space port and the various shops, restaurants and other establishments on the levels below those that serviced the craft and shuttles ignored the small group.

Even with the war going on traffic hadn't really let up or changed, though there were a great many beings in Republic uniform.

It suited them just fine as they descended into the lower, cheaper recreation level where the public access landingpads for speeders were located. They used one of the lifts, even though wide, expansive stairs decorated with statues and advertisement holos also existed. R2 led them to an out-of-the-way pad, away from the main routes of traffic in this area. It hung out over the usual chasm, but the gap to the next building was little more than half again the size of the of the pad.

Unlike the place where Anakin had landed near the industrial district a few days ago, it was while still shabby and unused, not littered with refuse. He looked around and saw that there was no place nearby where anyone could hide, but he still felt a sense of unease that permeated their surroundings. He stole a glance at Ahsoka and Obi Wan who were both reaching out into the force for any threats nearby.

Anakin reached out as well, but more towards his wife. Since they'd gotten married he had discovered that he could sense her over a very long distance, her presence almost like a beacon in the natural flow of the living Force. The downside was that it worked best when he knew where she was in the physical realm, and right now this was not the case, and even though he sensed that she was slowly coming closer towards them, he couldn't tell how far away she was exactly.

But he needn't have worried, because Padme's outwardly understated but inwardly ridiculously luxurious private speeder was approaching fast, that combination of her family colours was probably unique.

Whatever he'd said earlier, he was slightly worried about how she would react to him depositing Ahsoka at her apartment until they had decided what to do next. But at the same time...

The speeder landed and the access hatch hissed open. Out came, as expected the loveliest Senator in history, clad in the same form-shrouding clothes he'd seen on her when they had met after he'd crashed the Separatist ship some days ago now. She had yet to say a word when Anakin crossed the distance between them with a few steps and hugged her as tightly as her current condition would allow.

Obi Wan just smiled as he watched them, but Ahsoka was flabbergasted at this. She had suspected that her old Master and the Senator were more than friends, but she would never have expected Anakin to act it out so openly.

"Get in." Padmé said after Anakin had let go, and Anakin proceeded to do so, but halted in mid-stride when Ahsoka spoke, sounding more apprehensive than he'd ever heard her.

"Where to?"

Anakin stopped and turned back towards her. He reached out and placed both his hands on her shoulders. "Do you trust me?"

Ahsoka looked up at him, and Anakin was close to loosing it. Even when he had originally rejected her as his Padawan, she had never been anything but forward, chippery and generally the Ahsoka Tano he'd come to see as the sister he'd never had. And his acts after she'd been framed for the Temple bombing had helped destroy that. It broke his heart, and it didn't even occur to him to blame the Council for that.

"Ahsoka, you can trust me. If you don't trust me, trust Obi Wan. Or trust my wife."

She looked up at him and replied: "Fine."

Padmé stood beside the speeder with a worried frown on her face, and as Anakin approached to get in with the rest. She had heard the entire exchange and it was obvious that she was curious about what had taken place on Corellia. She had seen that Anakin wore bacta patches and had cut his hair. What surprised her more though was the presence of Anakin's old Togrutan Padawan. They hadn't met for months, and she had little knowledge of what had happened when she'd left the Order, but Anakin had occasionally hinted that it had been something bad, and that he, in part at least, blamed himself.

But whatever had happened, Anakin seemed to trust her still and genuinely eager to rebuild that friendship they'd had. Since she knew how Anakin treasured those relationships she accepted that he'd told without asking her first. Besides, if her instincts were correct, they needed someplace for Ahsoka to stay without anyone finding out, and she would have offered had Anakin not done so for her.

Not that she'd needed to do so, as Ahsoka clearly noticed her – condition as she entered the speeder.

* * *

><p><em>The cockpit of the fighter was cramped to begin with, but he knew that the modifications he'd had made didn't help. But he wouldn't concentrate on meaningless creature comforts right now. He glanced to his screens, seeing that the two TIEs flown by his wingmen were still with him as they continued to pursue the attacking Rebel snubfighters. He pushed the throttle forward, he needed to catch the Rebels before they reached the end of the trench. Soon two of the X-Wing were within range, and one of his wingmen fired a quick salvo, hitting his target square. The fighter pulled up and out of the run. He switched to the squadron channel. "Let him go. Stay on the leader." <em>_The second X-Wing manoeuvred wildly, trying to obscure his leader form the TIE's targeting system, but to no avail. He fired, and the X-Wing exploded in a white ball of fury. __The last X-Wing continued straight on it's attack run. _

"_I'm on the leader."__Whoever flew that one was good. But then he sensed something in the Force. Realizing that it was coming from the X-Wing, he tried to hone in on it. "The Force is strong with this one."__He fired again, barely missing the cockpit, instead taking out his opponents R2 unit. He re-adjusted his aim, taking the time to let his systems lock the target properly this time. "I have you now!" He fired. __Suddenly one of his wingmen was hit by several bolts and exploded. "WHAT?"__  
><em>_  
>On his rearview screens he saw a YT-1300 dive towards him out of the sun.<em>

* * *

><p>Sidious had sensed Anakin's return to Coruscant the moment he stepped off the shuttle eight hours ago, but he knew that it would be a while before he was within reach for the next step in Sidious' plans. He wished he could have prevented them going to Corellia, but even a Sith Lord was not omnipotent, and his mercenaries has reported the target to be dead. Since he couldn't sense Ahsoka anywhere, he was inclined to believe them.<p>

Having been forced to wait, he had instead immediately sent Anakin another dream, and he knew that his future apprentice still had his mind as wide open as he had been before leaving. At least there nothing had changed. At least...

His comm unit beeped. After checking that his disguise was in place he answered. The being on the other end was a rouge former Black Sun operative. He was clearly nervous, but upon hearing what he had to say, Sidious was too angry to do kill the messenger.

That damn, incompetent idiot...

**tbc**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Anakin jerked awake in the rear seat of the speeder, and noted that everyone save Obi Wan at the controls was looking back at him with concern. "Annie..."

He smiled at his wife reassuringly. "It's alright, Angel. I'm fine."

She kissed him on his cheek, somewhere between showing her love for him and minding the others. Obi Wan saw it out of the corner of his eye and only smiled, but Ahsoka was flabbergasted, simply because knowing something and seeing it happen were two different things entirely. But when Padmé and Anakin only looked at each other, forgetting the universe around them, slowly she began to smile, wondering how she had not noticed this before. Knowing now and looking back at her time with Anakin, there were a dozen times when she should have seen it.

Yet... she decided that even if she'd officially known, more than suspected that is, then she would not have told on them. If this was how they were when together then her old Master was happier with his wife than she'd ever seen him. He deserved it.

"Was it a nightmare?" Obi Wan asked, and Anakin opened his mouth to answer. Then he considered what he had dreamt, closed it again and shrugged. "I don't know, Obi Wan. It wasn't as – vivid as the others, but certainly not something I care to remember."

He related the dream. "It was an odd sort of moon though, considering how machined everything looked."

Obi Wan shook his head. "Can't be a moon, this sounds more like a space station."

"I don't think so, it was too large for that."

He scratched the back of his head.

"At any rate, it was less bad than the other ones, so I suppose something changed for the better."

Padmé looked at him with concern, and resolved to talk to him about this later. After all, it had been Anakin who had said that she had interrogation skills to rival his own.

A short time later came to land at 500 Republica and Ahsoka hid beneath her cloak, and to make herself look like yet another one of the nameless aides that kept much of the Republic's government going.

They needn't have bothered though, because not only was it at a time when most people living in the building were at work or busy with lunch, but also because they used a not very well known back entrance, and as they entered Padmé's rooms, all of them felt reasonably safe for the first time in days. Ahsoka and Obi Wan remained in the living room as Anakin and Padmé retreated into her office for a few moments to themselves. The young Togrutan was taken in by the splendour of their surroundings, but after a short while she turned to Obi Wan.

"How long have you known, Master?"

He shook his head. "For certain? A few days, just before we left for Corellia. Suspected? Force knows, I have no idea."

Her frown made him realize why she had asked the question. "Ahsoka, he didn't tell you because he didn't trust you or didn't -"

She waved his concern away. "No, it's not that, Master. We saved each other's lives too often for _that_, I know that now." Her shy smile was evidence, it was far more genuine and heartfelt than any emotion she'd displayed since they'd met her again.

"No, Master. It's..." She sighed and walked over to the table where Anakin had placed his lightsabre. She slowly ran her right index finger along it's length. "For a while I believed that he only told me because I would not run to the council to tell on him, but that's not his way."

Obi Wan didn't tell her that he wouldn't be so sure the way Anakin had been lately, but that would only create problems. Ahsoka had wandered over to the windows and was looking out over Coruscant.

"Would you have told them?" she said, obviously referring to the council.

The elder Jedi Master shook his head, even though she could not see it. If there was one thing he'd achieved certainty about since leaving Corellia, it was that. "No, I would not have. I believe that back then I would have reached the same conclusion as I have now, though I do admit it would have taken me longer to do so."

"I spent a lot of the last year with a group of -" she paused as Anakin and Padmé returned to the room, but she knew that she would never get this out if not now and all in one go.

"I spent the last eleven months with a group... they call themselves the Paladins. Apparently they are an offshoot of a group of Jedi who... did not see eye to eye with the Council. They left the Order and their group since they believed that they could not discover their own way of the Force on Coruscant."

Obi Wan frowned. There had been rumours about something of this sort happening before he had been elevated to master. Force if he knew more than that, he had never been someone to put much stock in cantina gossip.

"They left." Ahsoka went on, "Eventually they reached a moon on the outer rim, away from the war and the tradelanes. Cue me and my boss having a hyperdrive malfunction on the _Steam Runner_, and crashing right on top of them. My... friend did not survive."

Her grief was evident as she relived the events that had brought her to a small moon orbiting a world choked with lethal gases.

"But they found me in time, they healed me, they helped me repair the shuttle. And then... they taught me."

"Your Force Wave?" Obi wan asked, very, very interested in that group.

"Yes. But don't worry, they are not Sith. In fact they..."

Ahsoka searched for the right words, well aware that she was speaking to a member of the council, and someone who should by rights be on it, for all their infractions against the code.

"They mostly expanded on the teachings of the Order. Their philosophy is that the way the Order fights is not the end of all wisdom, and that other tools can be of use for a Jedi. They taught me how to shoot this one." she said, padding the holstered DC-17 on her hip.

"They also taught me new ways of using the Force. You've seen some of that."

She paused again, and let her gaze wander around the room. "My point is, I deviated from the teachings, I... acted against everything the Order stands for, and though I am not a member, you two are, and I couldn't be sure..."

Ahsoka sighed, and then said with a low, almost inaudible voice: "I couldn't be sure you would accept me."

For a moment no one said anything, and it was Padmé who reacted first. She rose as fast as she could, waddled over to where Ahsoka seemed to sink in on herself while staring at her feet and hugged her as close as possible. Obi Wan was unsure what to say or do, but Anakin was far too dazed at what his former Padawan had implied. Did she really believe he would reject her because she had shown the strength and will to seek her own way of the Force? Dis she think so little of him?

Anakin shook off the worst of his daze and looked over to where his wife was comforting Ahsoka, wordlessly hugging her to her side. He watched the scene for a few minutes in deep thought before taking a breath.

"Snips, if there's one thing that you can be sure of, I would _never_ turn you away, nor would Obi Wan. Force, in some ways you've managed what I always wanted to do, so please, never think yourself unwanted or unworthy. You are the sister I never had and nothing will change that, I promise you."

"And as for the Council, we have no intention of revealing your presence." Anakin said, hoping that Obi Wan agreed. Thankfully, he sensed nothing but agreement from his old master, though he did seem the be slightly uncomfortable with it.

"You will always have a place here, Ahsoka."

Padmé said that and genuinely felt it, but the current Ahsoka was not one to like being vulnerable in front of others. She visibly pulled herself together and took a small but determined step away from everyone else.

"I suppose you want to know how this whole mess got started?"

Anakin noted the 'you better never mentioned what I just said again' but resolved to fully disabuse her of her wrong notion at some point.

"Of course we would." Obi Wan said, "We have to tell the Council something after all."

She nodded. "About two months ago I started making short runs between my studies to.. well, finance myself, and on one of them I came onto a trader's space station near the edge of Hutt space. I did what I came to do, collected my payments and was just about to leave when some sort of.. Force user tried to test if I was weak of mind. I tried to track him down, but lost him in the bustle. A few weeks later I returned to the same station, with half a mind to trying to track that guy down, but I roamed every publicly accessible compartment and some that weren't, though no success."

"I take it that you were approached?"

"Yes, Master. In the Corellian Restaurant..."

Over the next minutes she told the tale of how she had entered the small, shady tenth-rate restaurant, how an equally shady figure had called her on being a former Jedi, how that figure had offered her employment for her very special skills, how she had turned him down and walked out.

"I take it he didn't react too well to rejection?" Obi Wan asked, stroking his beard in thought.

"Not at first. I made it back to the camp without trouble, but I didn't stay there for long after that."

"Because," Anakin said, "whoever approached you had to have known where and who you were."

She nodded. "Yes, since he did call me by name."

"What happened next?"

"Well, I had saved up and inherited a few Credits, so I tried to disappear. I figured that shouldn't be too hard, but they caught up with me near Aldraan a week and a half before I contacted you, Senator. I managed to get away since their pilots were banthadung, but I started up the communications line I used then."

"That doesn't sound like any Jedi splinter group I know. The ones you approached, I mean." Obi Wan said, and Padmé, who had only listened eagerly, frowned.

"There have been rumours that someone was combing the Naboo underworld for beings who had 'Jedi experience' about a year ago."

Anakin looked at her, and she felt she had to explain. "Not much more than that, but it has been persistent. I only remember this because I was sent another report on it yesterday." She paused and readjusted her position to ease the load on her aching back. "Even if that isn't part of it, who is behind it?"

All three Jedi in the room had long been trained not to jump to conclusions so it took some time before Obi Wan, as the only council member, spoke.

He knew more than anyone else in the room about Master Yoda's suspicions, he knew how clouded the Force had been of late, and he knew who had to be behind it. "The Sith."

Ahsoka nodded, but Anakin stared at Obi Wan.

"Are you certain?"

"Haven't you noticed how clouded the force has been since before the war? That it was more and more difficult to reach into it? Everything that has happened..." He sighed. "Anakin, there's the Rule of Two to consider..."

"The Rule of Two?" Padmé asked.

Obi Wan was the one who explained. "Supposedly the Sith always operate as a pair. A Master, who trains an Apprentice. At some point, once he is strong enough, the Apprentice is to kill the Master, take his place and take a new Apprentice of his own. Since Maul and.." he paused, glancing at Anakin who judging by his pained expression knew what was coming next, "and Dooku both had to come from somewhere, it is likely that there's a second Sith out there still. Now, whether Dooku was the Master or the Apprentice... We never did get around to asking him."

To his credit, Anakin looked even more uncomfortable now than he had before, so Obi Wan decided to let it slide for now.

"The Council knew this?"

"Suspected. We still don't have more than circumstantial proof." Obi Wan said with a shake of his head.

"So what do we do next?"

Obi Wan glanced at Ahsoka and silently bade her forgiveness. "We have to tell the Council, Anakin."

Ahsoka tried to speak up, but Obi Wan. "No, I will not tell them it's you, I promise. But we have to tell them something."

Anakin was about to object, but his and Obi Wan's comm links beeped, recalling them to the temple for an emergency meeting of every Jedi currently on the planet. This was very rarely done, and they, as well as Ahsoka, felt the ripple in the Force radiating out from the Temple.

**tbc **

What happened to get them to the Temple was _**not Order 66**_.

After four tries and failures to write the scene where they try to recruit her, I gave up and coped out. Also, I am about to play a bit fast and loose with some ROTS events, if you mind, please tell me. Anyhoo, the reason why this appeared so quickly is because it grew out of something that wouldn't fit with the previous chapter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_Earlier_

" -so we still have not heard from Master Fisto. Communications has tried to contact him on every channel his equipment could pick up. We even tried GAR channels, but nothing."

Master Windu handed the word to Yoda. The small, green Jedi Master frowned. "Continue to try, we must. A danger to the Republic, Grievous is. "

"We must prepare for the worst." In the back of his mind, Windu came to realize that he should have insisted on sending Obi Wan who was considered to be one of the best swordsman in the Order. But the past was the past, so they had to make the best of it. "Assuming that Master Fisto has... failed to apprehend or kill Grievous, how should we handle this? By now the General could have already crossed half the Galaxy, and we will not have this sort of opportunity again."

Yoda nodded sagely, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If escaped again, he has, then make every effort to find him, we must. Yeesssssss. Go on without him, the war would, but the best strategist the Separatists have, he is."

"But Master Yoda, if we do not take him out now, our best change to seize the initiative will have gone to waste. When will it end?"

"Full of uncertainties, war is. " Yoda replied, "If vigilant, we remain, prevail, the republic will."

At that moment the holoprojector tin the middle of the chamber sprung into life, revealing the Jedi currently on duty at the main entrance.

_"__Forgive the interruption Masters, but there has been an incident outside the Main Entrance. Masters... someone attacked Master Che as she was about to return to the temple!"_

No one spoke. That someone had attacked the Order's Chief Healer on the edge of the temple...

Master Windu spoke up first. "What happened? Is the Chief Healer wounded?"

_"__I- I don't know, Master Windu, I-"_

Windu looked at the others before saying: "I will be right down. Get help from the Halls of Healing."

_"__Y- Yes, Master."_

The young Knight gave a short bow and the hologram dissolved. Windu jumped to his feet and hastened out of the chamber as fast as his dignity would allow, with Yoda on his heels, while the rest of the Council looked at one another, and all wanted to follow.

Yoda and Windu beat every record to reach the Main Entrance and they were greeted with a scene of horror.

On the first, lowest of the steps leading up to the Temple, Master Che was sitting on the lowest one, waving away the attentions of her healers. At least she was not badly wounded, even though she bled from where a blaster bolt had grazed her arm. Around her a few Knights and Padawans near the Entrance of the Temple had hurried to the scene and now formed a perimeter around her, sabres drawn. Some metres onwards a speedy Coruscant Security Force vehicle hovered over where a group of CSF officers were inspecting a body laying at the foot of one of the spires.

As the two Masters hastened down the stairs, Windu saw that the attacker must have been an awful marksman, since he had fired dozens of shots, but failed to even seriously injure his target. He only nodded at Che and as he pushed through the CSF officers, he knew why the attack had failed. The human male with the lightsabre wounds was reeking with alcohol. Long story short, to Windu it looked as if the man had been stone dead drunk. Small wonder he'd barely managed to hit the right section of the city, never mind his actual target. That still left to consider why he'd done it, and even though the prospective assassin was dead and through the alcoholic haze, Windu could still sense a faint but clear Dark Side presence, like an afterimage.

It would need further examination to make sure, but by the looks of it, the man hadn't been a Force user himself. That meant he had to have been around a strong, very strong Dark Side presence or source himself to eve get that kind afterimage and presence.

Fortunately it would not take long to convince the CSF to let the Order have all their reports on this affair.

While Windu dealt with them and the assassin, Master Yoda questioned the intended victim.

"I have no idea why, Master. My helpers and I were just walking over from where the hospital speeder had dropped us of over there," she said, waving towards the edge of the Temple District. "What saved us was that he started yelling at us even before he opened fire, so we were forewarned at the last moment, thank the Force."

Yoda looked over to where Windu was talking to the CSF. "What say did he?"

Chen shook her head. "It's not in any language I understood, Master."

"Sense something in the force did you, hmm?"

"No. It was all too quick and chaotic."

Yoda decided that she likely couldn't say anything substantial, so he dismissed her for the Halls of Healing with the strong 'suggestion' to file a full report on even the most minute detail she remembered and climbed the steps to the top. There he stopped in front of the entrance and turned around. On impulse he reached out into the Force, and to his surprise, it was less clouded and fogged than at any point since long before the war that he could remember. What had changed?

With a snort he waved the thoughts away. Right now he had better things to do, like sending the automatic recall for all Jedi on and around Coruscant, if that had not been done already.

* * *

><p>Thanks to Coruscant traffic, it took Obi Wan and Anakin only a little less long than usual to make their way to the Temple. As Anakin brought the speeder in to land on the eastern platform he could see that there was a group of people and vehicles milling around in front of the Temple, but nothing more than that. On reaching the council chambers, Anakin and Obi Wan noticed they were the last to arrive, as only Obi Wan's chair remained empty or not occupied by a hologram.<p>

"Master Kenobi, we were unaware that you had returned to Coruscant already."

There was no accusation in Windu's voice, but Obi Wan knew that they did need an excuse. "We had an errand to run first before coming here, Master. We were on our way already when the recall reached us."

"We will discuss that later, though be aware that there might be a connection."

"In what way, Master?"

Over the next few minutes Windu relayed what had happened to those that had seen it.

"In summary, Master Che is at present being tended to and the CSF is investigating her assassin. What I have not yet told them is about the Dark Force aura I sensed."

"That is the connection, Master Windu?" Anakin asked respectfully and received an affirmative reply.

"Even though the assassin was.. less than able in marksmanship and heavily inebriated, the presence was there."

"Involved, the Sith Lord is. Exposed to a very strong source of the dark side to be tainted this way, the assassin was. Yes, hmmm."

"Master Yoda, if this is the same person that prompted everything that has happened in the last few days, then..." Anakin was lost for words, because somewhere in the back of his mind alarm bells rang.

"Then the apprentice, Dooku was, not the Master. "

"At least we have proof for that now, even if it is circumstantial." Master Ti said, "Though the question of what we do about it remains."

"Let us hear Master Kenobi and Knight Skywalker's report first." Windu decided. "Did you meet your contact?"

"We did, Master, and we got the information we needed." Obi Wan replied and gave a highly sanitized account of what had happened on Corellia, leaving out that Ahsoka had been their contact. "In the end we managed to evade the mercenaries but failed to bring the contact with us."

"And there was no chance to bring him here?"

"Yes, Master. Skywalker tried to convince the contact to accompany us, but was not entirely successful."

Strictly speaking that was the first little white lie that he had told them, everything else had been stretching the truth and simply not saying everything. He silently begged the Force for forgiveness, but he had promised.

"Correct to bring this information to us instead you were, Master Kenobi. Sense the dark side at any time during the last few days did you, hmm?"

"No."

Yoda noticed that Skywalker hadn't answered, but for the moment he decided to ignore it, they had more important things to do.

"Has your contact said anything else useful?" Windu asked with an eye to investigating this whole affair further.

"Only that he was approached on a trading station near Hutt space, and that the contact clearly was a Force user connected to the Dark Side."

That moment Anakin recalled something that Ahsoka had mentioned off-hand.

"There was one thing, Masters. He said that the Dark Sider spoke with a very pronounced Coruscanti accent."

"Chance then that the sith is on this very planet there is. Hide among the millions here, he does."

"We must be vigilant then." Windu said, "But at the moment there is little to do but await the CSF report."

"And try to find the Sith."

"How do you propose we do this, Skywalker?"

He lacked a decent reply, but Yoda nodded. "Right, young Skywalker is. Still clouded the Force is, find this Sith Lord to end it we must."

The meeting ended soon afterwards, as no one had any more pertinent information, aside from Anakin. Obi Wan looked worried as Anakin told him to leave. "Master Yoda," Anakin said, "a moment?"

Yoda nodded and remained behind. Obi Wan walked to the exit and as he was about to walk down the long staircase, he turned and looked back one last time. The view that greeted him near broke his heart. Backlit by the sun from the windows Anakin looked down at the diminutive figure of Master Yoda, his posture a picture of defeat and resignation.

With a sigh, he turned and left. It was all in Anakin's hands now.

* * *

><p>"Changed, something has, yes?"<p>

_'Tell him the truth, without censoring yourself, and the Force will show you the way.'_ Anakin thought, _'The Order is not the be all, end all of existence.'_

He sighed, took a deep breath and steadied his emotions.

"Master, remember when you told me that I could come to you for help?"

"Of course I do. My advice you need, hmm?"

Anakin shook his head. "Master, I've been having... I don't know what to call it, dreams, nightmares... visions? For several weeks now, and... it's been getting better in the last few nights, but.."

He paused, trying to find the right words. "Master, can the Dark Side influence my dreams?"

"Why do you think that is?"

"They... they show me my worst fears..."

At that moment Anakin realized what the dreams had been intended to do.

"The one thing to make me loose faith in myself and the Light Side of the Force."

Yoda tilted his head and looked at the younger Jedi. A smile crept on his face. "About Senator Amidala it is, hmm?"

Anakin was beyond surprise, like many he believed that Yoda knew everything about everyone in the Temple.

"Yes, Master."

"Broken the code, you have. Forbidden, attachment is."

"Yes, Master."

"But led you to the Dark Side yours has not, young Skywalker. I sense not it will, yes?"

Anakin sighed and Yoda sensed that he was resigned to his fate.

"Master, I know that you will eject me from the Order. I know that, and I accept it. But Master, if she dies, if our children die as I dreamt, I will die with her. She... she is my life, my anchor, my everything. She keeps me grounded, she keeps me from despairing over this damnable war. Without her..."

Yoda reached into the Force and examined Anakin's Force signature closer than ever before. Anakin noticed and opened his emotions to this examination. He closed his eyes and for the first time when not in Padmé's presence he let it flow out of control. This went on for minutes before Yoda stepped back.

"The truth you speak. No dark side in you, there is, calmer than before, your presence is."

"Could this be why the dreams changed?

"Maybe. This attachment for a long time, you had. And helped you to do your duty, it has. Yess."

"Yes, Master."

"Find a solution, we will." Yoda tried to be reassuring, but he didn't need to be a Jedi to know why Anakin still was emminently worried. This worry was not for himself, but...

"Take your children from you against your will we will not, I promise."

"I would not allow that to happen, Master, believe me."

Yoda knew Anakin well enough to know that he would do everything to make that true. At the same time, the Order never took children against the will of the parents, at least they were not supposed to. It happened on occasion, but it was not supposed to. Skywalker would refuse unless it was on his own terms, and rather resign and take his family to hide in the Unknown Regions, the Outer Rim not under CIS control, Hutt space, wherever the Order would leave them alone, and if Yoda had figured Senator Amidala... Senator _Skywalker_ would only help him to do so. The woman was fiercly protective of her planet and people, and she would be even more protective of her offspring.

"Master Kenobi knows, hmm?"

"Not for long, Master. Only from just before we left for Corellia. He does not deserve to be punished for something I did."

"Know that I do."

Yoda considered everything. What Skywalker had said, and what he himself had sensed in Skywalker's Force signature ran contrary to everything the Order had taken as dogmatic belief since the reformation. For the first time in centuries Yoda felt genuine doubt about his own beliefs and the rules of the Order. There had been other Jedi who had challenged the code before, but few so blatantly as Skywalker had, and yet all this had not prevented him from doing his duty as a member of the Jedi Order, quite the opposite in fact.

He had only sensed Skywalker's emotions and intentions, not his actual memories and he was sure that there were instances that the human Jedi wanted to keep hidden, but Jedi were not perfect, as much as they wanted to be. Which, Yoda realized, was part of the problem. In their attempt to attain perfect emotional serenity and balance in the Force they had forgotten that to attain balance one needed to weight both sides of the scales, something that the Jedi Order of millenia past seemed to have understood. And he, Yoda, had led the Jedi down this path.

That bore meditation and thinking, and he would have to discuss this with Master Windu. But right now he needed to reassure Skywalker. Whatever happened to him next would profoundly change the Order, and Yoda sensed that if Skywalker was with them, believed and knew that the Order would not dismiss him and his concerns out of hand...

"Go to your family you will, young Skywalker. Do your duty as always you will for now. Decide what to do with you we will another time, yes?"

"Yes, Master. I will go home and get some sleep."

Anakin radiated surprise, relief and happiness at what had taken place, and Yoda sensed that he had made the right decision. Skywalker may not know it yet, Yoda thought as he watched him leave, but times were changing indeed.

* * *

><p><em>The Stormtroopers led the Princes, the Wookie and Solo into the freezing room. He almost wished that his son was there to see it, but Luke was somewhere within the city. And that 3PO would just shut up. Whatever had possessed him to build that blasted Droid in the first place, he'd never know. <em>_  
><em>_  
>"What's going on... buddy?" Solo asked his former friend.<em>_  
><em>_  
>"You're being put into carbon freeze."<em>_  
><em>_  
>The bounty hunter stepped up to him. "What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me."<em>

"_The Empire will compensate you if he doesn't survive." he replied, "Put him in!"__The Wookie tried to save his friend and pushed a few Stormtroopers and tried to seize a weapon before his compatriots talked him down. He had to hand it to Solo, he knew how to control that beast. "Hey, Hey, Chewie! Listen to me! This won't help me. Hey! Save your strength. There will be another time."__The Princess looked away from her friends and stared at him. If looks could kill..._

"_The Princess, you have to take care of her." Solo said, "You hear me? Huh?"__  
><em>_  
>Solo and the Princess looked into one another's eyes, and shared one last kiss before Solo was taken to the platform. Before they lowered him down, the Princess spoke.<em>_  
><em>_  
>"I love you."<em>

"_I know."_

**tbc**

**I am really, really excited, as we are getting ****_that_**** close to Order 66, as you may have guessed, and I hope the ideas I have are epic enough...**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"You were right to say that this will change the Order forever." Windu said as he considered what he had just been told. Everything in him, all his upbringing, training, experience and beliefs pulled him one way, and yet...

"Master Yoda, by rights Skywalker, and maybe even Kenobi should he expelled immediately. Why is it that you believe they should not? One of them has broken the most sacred commandments of the code, the other has concealed it from us."

"The truth you speak."

In the few hours since dismissing Skywalker Yoda had done some serious soul-searching, and even though there were still many things to be considered, decided, he knew that this whole matter could not, mustn't be dismissed out of hand and be dealt with via the usual methods.

"Consider everything, we must."

"What do you mean?"

Yoda sighed. "Clouded for a long time, the Force has been. Tried to find a solution, we both have, but failed."

"Of course, but that does not excuse this blatant breach of the code."

"No, Master Windu, correct you are as well."

"Then..."

Yoda turned back and stared Windu down like only he could. "Unable to stand, an order unwilling to change will be. The right thing to do, the Reformation was at the time, but changed, times have."

Windu was forced to admit that Yoda had a point. "True, but that still doesn't mean we can or should abandon the code just like that, a Code that has stood for centuries."

"Abandon the code we will not. No. As you say, served us well, it has. But changed it has been before, has it not, hmm?"

With a visible unwillingness and worry Windu was forced to admit that again, Yoda had a point. "But that was when the Sith stood on our doorstep, when the Republic stood on the brink of defeat at the hands of the Sith."

Yoda shook his head. "In danger the Republic is. More enemies it has than the Separatists. Shown me this the Battle of Coruscant and the attacks on Jedi right here have."

"Do you really believe that the Sith are that dangerous to us and the Republic?" Windu sounded doubtful, so Yoda nodded emphatically.

"Dangerous, they always are. Now even more so. Nothing of the dark side in him, young Skywalker has, calm and serene now, he is."

"Even though he is threatened with expulsion from the Order?"

"Indeed. Accepted that he has, expected even. Been married to the Senator for a long time, he has. Impaired his duties, it has not."

Windu thought back on the last few years, and true, Skywalker had gone above and beyond the call of duty more often than he was comfortable to count, from the Battle of Geonosis right to the rescue of the Chancellor. Yet Windu was still adverse to Yoda's implied suggestion. It amounted to rewarding Skywalker for his breach of the code, and that was something that Windu could not, would not do.

At the same time he could not just dismiss what Yoda had said. Not only because the green Jedi was by far the oldest and experienced member of the Council but also because there was a core of truth in what he had said. As much as he hated to admit that. What was more, a part of Windu was looking forward to finding out what it would be like if the most powerful Jedi in recent years had not only one, but two younglings.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"This I suggest..."

* * *

><p><em>Pain was everywhere, and he felt how he was slowly dying. Luke desperately tried to help him into the shuttle, but he knew that he wouldn't make it. <em>_Around them everything was falling to pieces, and he knew that the Second Death Star was not long for this world. He would die, but at least he had finally done the right thing, the thing he should have done all those years ago. In the hangar chaos reigned as groups of Stormtroopers and normal crew tried to get away somehow, to somewhere. __He collapsed on the ramp of the shuttle, knowing that he would never move again. Luke was dragged down with him, and both of them tried to catch their breath. "Luke... help me take this mask off..." he said haltingly, desperate for his last wish. _

"_But you'll die..." Luke seemed so eager for him to live...__  
><em>_  
>"Nothing... can stop that now."<em>_  
><em>_  
>Breathe.<em>

"_Just for once..." Breathe. "let me look on you..." Breathe... "with my __**own**__ eyes..."__Luke nodded slowly and began to remove the mask that had so long been the bane of his existence. When the inlay was removed, he managed a small smile as he looked on his son. But for his eyes and hair, there was so much of his mother in him... Breathe._

"_Now.." Breathe. "Go, my son.." Breathe. "Leave me..." Breathe.__Luke shook his head, unwilling to accept the situation. "No, you're coming with me. I've got to save you."__Breathe._

"_You.." Breathe. "already..." Breathe. "have, Luke." Breathe. "You were right." Breathe. "You were right about me." Breathe. __His vision began to fade, and in the far distance of the Force he could hear her voice calling. She was waiting for him. "Tell your sister.." Breathe. "You were right."__He began to fade away and closed his eyes. He could barely hear Luke talk. "Father... I won't leave you!"__As Luke lowered him down on the ramp, he could hear her voice and he sent his own out into the Force._

_ 'I am coming, Angel!'__Blackness._

* * *

><p>Anakin jerked awake on the couch, and beside him, Padmé sat on her chair.<p>

"You never sleep in the middle of the day, and you didn't have a nightmare." she said with a smile.

"I told you Yoda can be exhausting."

Upon returning home four hours ago, he had given her a quick rundown of what he had talked with Yoda about, and it had taken him and Ahsoka everything to keep her from worrying herself into a frenzy. She still wasn't completely calm, he could see it on her face.

"Angel." he said, "Whatever happens to us, we will be together and with the twins, I promise you."

"I know." Padmé leaned over and placed her hand on his cheek with a smile.

"Oh Angel."

Anakin took and kissed her hand.

"So, what did you dream?" she asked.

"I don't know if it even was a dream. It certainly wasn't a nightmare, but what I saw there could be one. But what I felt is... oddly, mostly a sense of peace. I was.. not in good shape, but I..."

He searched for words that wouldn't worry her. "I felt a sense of peace, like I had finally done the right thing after a very long time. I felt... happy, oddly enough. I felt..."

He trailed off as he remembered something else he had sensed.

"Force... I need to speak to Master Yoda. Now."

He jumped to his feet, and threw on some clothes. "When I'm gone, lock the door, and let no one in except for me or Obi Wan, clear?"

Anakin was speaking in his General's persona, and Padmé knew him well enough to know that he didn't do this lightly.

"What is it, Anie?"

Ahsoka had noticed the ruckus and come into the living area from her guest room. Anakin turned to her. "Snips, I trust you will do your best to protect her?"

"Of course, Skyguy." she said with a nod and patted her blaster. "What's going on?"

Anakin sighed. "I'm not sure. I only know that I have a _very_ bad feeling about this. Something is going on, and something very bad will happen, and soon."

"How do you know?"

"I wouldn't call it a disturbance in the force.. Angel, remember when..." he sighed. "Remember when we went to Tatooine just before Geonosis? It's not quite that bad, but the same sense of dread, worry and death.."

Padmé's eyes widened, and she nodded. "Go, and quickly."

She tossed him the access card to his speeder. "And hurry."

Anakin almost jumped through the door without a further word, leaving the Senator and Ahsoka behind. "What's up with him and Tatooine?" his former Padawan asked. Padmé only shook her head, a single tear running down her face as she held her belly and felt her children move.

Anakin meanwhile rushed to the landing platform, for once not caring who saw him. His speeder was parked where he'd left it, and seconds later he was racing towards the temple at a speed that was reckless even for him. He didn't notice the surveillance droid filming him as he left.

Luckily air traffic was light for this time of the day and he reached the Temple a short time afterwards. He ignored the indignant voices around him as he ran towards the staircase that led up to the Council Chambers. Shortly before reaching them however, he realized that the Council might not be in session, so he stopped, trying to decide what to do.

"Anakin, what are you doing here?"

It was Obi Wan. "Master, where is Master Yoda?"

"In his quarter..."

Before Obi Wan had ended his sentence, Anakin had taken off down the corridor, and his old Master decided to follow.

"Anakin, what _is_ going on?"

"Master, those dreams have been placed in my head by Dark Side user, probably the Sith! "

Obi Wan didn't even flinch. "How do you know?"

"When we left for Corellia," he said, dodging his way around a few Younglings on their way to the cafeteria from class, "those dreams were about her death, I didn't have any when we were off Coruscant for a while. When we returned, they were about.."

Anakin shook his head. "They were premonitions again, but of even farther in the future. I'm convinced that... Master, I am convinced that this is what will happen if she dies! That presence was in all my dreams, I know that now. Before I just didn't know to look for it."

"What will happen, Anakin?"

They reached the turbolift to the area where the Masters had their quarters. "Master, the Republic would fall. The Order would fall."

They stepped in. "Obi Wan... _I would fall._"

Obi Wan couldn't think of anything to say. Instead he just stared at his old Padawan who wore a worried expression on his face he hadn't seen since they had left Coruscant for the first time after returning from Geonosis.

"Force, Anakin..."

"No, don't worry about that, Master. Now that I know, I will not fall prey to that... thing."

"You know who the Sith is, Anakin, do you?" Obi Wan had formulated it as a question, though it wasn't really one. Anakin tried to hide it from him, and there still was some uncertainty there in the bond, but it was obvious.

"I can't be sure yet, or not sure enough at least, not about something like this. I need Master Yoda's advice before I decide what to do."

The lift halted, and Anakin was running down the corridor, Obi Wan right behind.

"This time, this time I died, and Luke was there. My son. But I also sensed a presence in my mind, before the dream and slightly afterwards. I have sensed this presence often enough."

"And only a Force user can send you emotions like that, a Dark Sider."

"Yes, Master. And if it is who I think it is, then he is the most powerful deceiver in history. And a Sith. He managed to hide right in front of us."

"Who then is it, hmm?"

Anakin scrambled to a halt. He had almost fallen over the small Jedi Master. "Master Yoda, thank the Force you haven't left for Kashyyk yet."

"Who is it, Anakin?"

"Chancellor Palpatine."

"WHAT?"

Obi Wan wasn't prone to bursts of emotions, but this was certainly not a normal situation.

"Anakin, are you aware how preposterous that sounds?"

"Certain your former Padawan is certain, I am sure. Sense it makes. In a perfect position he would be to direct both sides."

"He was the one who wanted me to kill Dooku. He was the one who pushed for the vote against Valorum, he was the one who always told me I was right when I complained about the Order or the Council." Anakin rattled off things that did not quite add up about Chancellor Palpatine as they came to him. "And when we 'liberated' him from Grievous, he was awfully bendy for a man his age."

Obi Wan couldn't help a short smile at Anakin's choice of words.

"Force..." Anakin said, and dropped his head. "He's been _using ME_ this entire time."

He looked up and stared in the distance, down the corridor.

"No more. If not for me, then for my family."

With that he almost took off down the corridor.

"Anakin! Wait! What are you doing?"

"Finding out if I'm right!" he said, "He once offered me to come to him if I needed help, and I just might take him up on that offer."

Obi Wan was about try and stop him when Yoda intervened.

"Right, young Skywalker is. Find out we must if true his suspicion is before we act. An emergency meeting of the Council I will convene. Come with me, you will, Obi Wan. Critical, time is."

Anakin was gone before Obi Wan had turned around.

"Force, I hope he knows what he's doing. If he tips him off..."

"Escalate quickly, this will."

* * *

><p>The Chancellor of the RebublicSith Lord didn't know what to think at first when Anakin Skywalker burst into his office. True, his future apprentice knew that he had permission to do so whenever Palpatine was present, but he rarely made use of that lately, though of course he knew why.

Even though Palpatine was fairly certain why Skywalker had come, it was still odd, since it wasn't exactly under the circumstances he had wanted. He had intended to invite him to the next performance of the Mon-Cal Opera tonight, but it seemed that his efforts to influence the young one had borne fruit so well that the opportunity had arisen already.

And yet something was off. Of course, he had expected the aura of worry and despair that came off Skywalker, in fact he needed it for his plans, but the young man's mind was closed, and Palpatine was unsure why. Normally he only closed of those parts concerning his wife, but right now he was totally unreadable. Well, maybe it was just because he was unsure how much to reveal.

"Chancellor." Skywalker said with a respectful nod.

"Have a seat, young Skywalker." came Palpatine's reply.

"Yes, Sir."

Once seated in the splendour that was the visitor's chair, he sighed. "Chancellor, you told me once that I could always come to you if I needed help.."

Palpatine suppressed a grin. Instead he made a show of looking concerned. "Of course, young man."

"Sir, I've been... having dreams. Those... close to me suffer, they die."

"Have you talked to someone about it?"

Anakin shrugged. "My master, and the _Council_.." he spat the last word, "they say that dreams pass with time. That's not the first time I heard that one.

Palpatine knew about Skywalker's mother. Back then everything had worked out perfectly, and it looked as if it would do so now as well.

"They say that the Force will right itself." Anakin snorted and shook his head. "First they don't let me on the Council, then they dismiss my fears... Sometimes I wish that I was still on Tatooine."

The young Jedi let all his fears and frustrations flow into his existence, just as Palpatine hoped he would. Yes, the young one was ready for the first stage. No sense in revealing too much, but a few chosen words...

"The Jedi were never the most forthcoming, my young friend. They have always had an agenda of their own. Like when they sent Master Fisto instead of you to apprehend Grievous. Not to send their best Knight shows me that the Council has... problems and is maybe not the best to lead the Order."

"If they were, I would have been appointed Master long ago."

"Almost certainly."

Palpatine fell silent and watched the young Jedi for a few minutes. Yes, he was genuinely distraught and angry at the same time.

"Anakin..."

The so spoken to looked up at the use of his first name and looked into the Chancellor's eyes.

"Anakin, I think I can.. no, I must tell you that information has come to my attention, the Order is plotting to overthrow the Republic."

"Why? How?" Skywalker asked, evidently very, very surprised.

"I found out because they tried to place listening devices in this very office, aided by traitors in the Senate. Surely, you sensed it?"

"Hah. They hide themselves when I am near, they do not trust me. Nor does anyone in the Senate. The Jedi must have told them about me."

"Of course." Palpatine replied, "But the Jedi are like any other political force, they have power and fear that once the war is over, they will loose it. That is why they refused you the Mastery, and why they send someone clearly inferior to you to apprehend Grievous."

What Palpatine didn't say of course that his warning to the General had allowed him to ambush and easily kill Fisto.

"Are you sure? The Jedi only use their powers for good, for peace."

"And who taught you that, young Skywalker?"

Nothing more was said for a for almost a quarter of an hour, and Skywalker looked out of the window at the traffic with a frown on his face. Yes, the young man was tempted indeed.

"In the end there is not much difference between any group of Force users, Anakin. Be they Jedi or Sith, they both use their gift to further their own power. All that differs are the methods and the veneer of selflessness the Order has you put on. It reminds me of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise."

He related the story, carefully leaving out that it had been himself who had killed his old Master, in strict accordance with the ways of the Sith.

"Can this healing power be learned?"

"Not from a Jedi."

"I see."

Skywalker rose to his feet. "You have helped me much, Chancellor. Thank you."

"My door is always open for you, my friend."

With a nod, Skywalker turned to leave. He stepped through the doors, and just as they closed, Palpatine sensed a flash of emotion from him. A mixture of pride in his accomplisments, humour and..._triumph_?

Skywalker had used him! Betrayed him! He had never genuinely sought his help!

Palpatine sat for a long, long time and only stared at the doors, fuming with anger.

But how was that possible?

Sidious dropped any vestiges of Chancellor Palpatine.

It didn't really matter how Skywalker had discovered his true identity, or how he had managed to fool him. Sidious was tempted to have him arrested on the spot, but he doubted that the comic opera senate guard could be able to deal with a Jedi. No, there was only one thing left to do. It was too early. Skywalker was probably already back at the temple before anything substantial happened in the Temple district, but that could not be helped.

What Sidious was really furious about was that he would now have to activate his backup plan, since clearly, Skywalker would not be his apprentice just yet. He would try to turn him again in the future. No, he _would_ turn him, but right now there was only one thing left to do.

He reached over to his com panel and pressed a certain combination of controls. A channel that had only reason to exist was opened, and Sidious spoke with a calm collected voice that betrayed no emotion:

"Execute Order 66."

**tbc**

**So there we are. In the next thirty-six hours (instory) a lot will happen.**

**As for the dream, I watched that scene on Youtube, and by god, James Earl Jones still rules this role.**  
><strong><br>The bit with Palps being bendy, I got that from I think a review vid I watched a few months ago. **

**And yes, here Anakin outed himself as a very good actor. Any non-force user would have been fooled.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Anakin had barely entered the Council chamber when every single Jedi in it sensed the truth about the Chancellor. The sense of betrayal, disappointment and yet serenity about having been right and knowing he had made the right choice.

"True, it is then."

Anakin sighed. "Yes, Master Yoda."

His emotions were open for everyone to read, and anyone who knew him would have expected defeat and anger to roll off him in waves strong enough to flood the chamber. Much to the amazement of everyone who was present, this was not the case. There was concern tinted with genuine fear, but not for himself, but for the Jedi for –

Only three of the seven Masters who were present knew about his attachment, and for the others it was yet another surprise about the Chosen One.

"Mind your feelings, young Skywalker." Obi Wan said with a smirk he could not suppress. "They are open for everyone to read."

"I know, Master." Anakin replied and nodded respectfully. "I do this so that everyone knows that I have nothing to hide. Not any more. I speak the truth."

"You do." Yoda said, "To our notice, Skywalker brought the chancellor's identity. Broken the Code he has, allowed him it has to sense the Sith, more than us."

Windu rose to his feet. "We will deal with Skywalker's... transgressions once we have made contact with the rest of the Council and decided what to do about Palp..."

The hologram in the middle of the chamber showed a visibly distraught Jedi who was manning the communications room.

_"__Master Windu, our long-range communications are jammed. I can only barely reach anyone in the Senate district. Our HoloNet access is down too. We have lost contact to everything off Coruscant."_

Anakin, who had been looking at his feet trying to decide what to say snapped his head up and looked at Windu.

"Master, I..." he paused, not for effect but because he was trying to pin down exactly what he sensed. "I have a _very_ bad feeling about this...DOWN!"

He had stared outwards and seen the first gunship approach the High Council Tower, and by the time it's pilot opened fire, he was down on the ground. He felt the bolts race over him, followed by the splintered remnants of the holoprojector in the centre of the room.

The first salvo done with, he jumped to his feet, drew his lightsabre and began to deflect some of the fire back at it's source. Obi Wan joined him as behind them Yoda and Windu shephered the rest of the of the Council out of the line of fire.

"Anakin!" Obi Wan yelled as he sent another bolt flying back to the gunship. "Master Kcaj is dead."

Anakin didn't even flinch. He closed his eye for a second and then resumed fighting with even more fervour. He and Obi Wan sensed that that chamber was empty, even the body of the dead Master had been taken by someone, so they slowly retreated towards the door, continuing to deflect bolts even as the doors closed. The first thing Anakin did after shutting off his lightsabre was pulling out his comm unit and calling his wife, totally ignoring that The council members had gone ahead. Even as he mad his way down, he cursed himself for his stupidity. Of course Jedi and Senate frequencies would be jammed when Palpatine tried to usurp the Republic.

Hopefully one of the commercial frequencies would still work.

"Ahsoka, come in!"

_"__Ma...fight.."_

Her voice dissolved into static before coming back, scratchy but far more understandable.

_"__Master, what's going on? We have gunships everywhere, there are reports that the Order is trying to overthr-"_

"No time for explanations. Take my wife and the droids and bring them to the Temple, and FAST! The Chancellor is the Sith!"

Much to Ahsoka's credit she didn't say that she had no wish to go to the Temple. Instead she returned military leader mode.

_"Yes, Master."_

"And be careful. We're under attack here already, but you won't be safe there for long."

_"We'll be there."_

He reached the communications centre. Inside Windu was recording a continually broadcast warning signal. Jamming or not, it would go out, if only to help keep the fighting from spreading into the city. Yoda was nowhere to be seen, likely somewhere directing the other Jedi in defence of the Temple, as was the rest of the Council. Only Obi Wan still near. "She won't be much safer here either, Anakin."

"I know, brother. But at least I'll be able to do something about it. If that... thing wants my family, he will have to go through me first."

"He brought some help, Anakin."

"I know." he replied with a weary nod. "Those were the markings of the 501st."

* * *

><p>To her credit, Senator Amidala-Skywalker was already packing before her husband had called. The broadcast had been enough of an incentive. She knew that she would likely not see these rooms again for a long time, one way or another, but she also knew that she needed to be as mobile as she could in her present condition. She had bypassed the more ornate parts of her wardrobe already, and now she was only adding the box that contained Anakin's Padawan braid in stasis, the Lightsabre he'd given her and the chips with the proofs of ownership of her non-movable property. She thought that she would leave behind almost eighty percent of her belongings, but the world was falling apart around her. She<p>

Ahsoka didn't have that problem. Her things fitted into a single backpack even smaller than the bag Padmé had packed.

"Ready?" the Togruta asked, her head-tails twitching.

"Yes. You know where my speeder is. It's fast, and-"

She was interrupted when the door to her apartment blew inwards and eight clone troopers with 501st markings stormed in.

_"You are under-"_

Clearly they had expected her to be alone, and not expected her and her guest being not exactly unprepared. Padmé took cover inside the alcove that led to her bedroom, while Ahsoka cowered behind the couch. She drew her Naboo blaster pistol.

"Under what authority are you here?"

_"__In the name of the Republic, you are under arrest for treason, Senator."_

"Treason? What-"

From where she was she could see Ahsoka shaking her head. Obviously she didn't believe that they were here to arrest her anymore than Padmé did.

She stretched out three fingers of her right hand, and retracted the first.

Their first bolts hit the lead two troopers squarely in the chests. Ahsoka's modified DC-17 easily burned through the Phase II armour, but Padmé's pistol took two shots. The others retreated back into the corridor and fired in, making both women keep their head's down.

"Senator, I don't have a shot!"

In a flash of inspiration, Padmé grabbed the lightsabre from her bag and tossed it to Ahsoka. "Will that help?"

The former Jedi caught the weapon in her right hand. Almost without thinking she holstered her blaster and grabbed the sabre with both hands. She hadn't handled a sabre in actual combat since leaving the order, always preferring her blaster the few times she'd been under attack. Even when training with the Palladins she had declined to construct a replacement for the one she'd lost, thinking that this weapon was a symbol for the life she'd left behind. At the same time she realized that this was her only chance of getting the Senator and herself out of the room alive. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, stood up, ignoring the blaster bolts around her and pressed the button.

She may have fought side by side with some of those clones before, but she would not let herself be killed, more importantly she had a promise to keep.

"Come on!" she yelled. The clones fired.

Slowly but surely Ahsoka worked her way towards the door, deflecting bolt after bolt even as the apartment was blown to bits around her. One after another the clones fell prey to the bolts she reflected, until only three were left when she reached the door. "I'm sorry." she said, jumped through the doorway and killed the remaining clones with a few expert strokes.

When she had checked that there were no more clones nearby, she motioned for the senator and the Droids who had hidden in the kitchen area to follow. She had point and led the group to the back landing pad where they had parked upon arriving from Corellia.

They managed to reach a service lift without being seen.

Once inside, Ahsoka turned her head just in time to see Padmé crumple against the railing of the carriage. "Senator.."

Padmé only waved it away. "Just some back pain, Ahsoka, nothing to worry about."

Shrugging, Ahsoka turned back. "If you say so... R2?"

The droid beeped in expectations of orders. "Try and get into the Republic transmissions that _aren't_ jammed. Try to monitor what's going on at the temple."

An affirmative beep came back. "And try to get through to Master Skywalker."

"He will try to get you to call him Anakin, you know that, right?" Padmé said with an indulgent smile.

Ahsoka shrugged. "Old habits die hard, I guess."

"So I've seen."

"Hmm."

The lift halted on a level of the building that would allow them a straight shot to the speeder. Ahsoka was first through the door, sabre and pistol at the ready, but no blaster bolts came out of the shadows.

Ahsoka hesitantly made a few steps into the darkened corridor before looking over her shoulder.

"Let me guess, you have a bad feeling about this, this is way too easy?"

"How do you know?"

Padmé shrugged. "Nothing, it's just what Anie would say."

Humour was a coping mechanism that she'd yet had to see on the Senator, and it seemed to be working. If inane did the trick for her and kept her focused on getting to the temple and not her contractions, because Ahsoka was sure that was what her occasional winces and frowny faces were, then so much the better. At least her shooting skills hadn't been impaired so far. Though credits to her for being able to hide it as well as she did.

Ahsoka had helped deliver two babies during her time with the Paladins, and she fervently hoped that numbers three and four had a little more patience, but then considering their father was the king of impatience...

No. 'Trust in the Force you must. Rewarded you will be'

That little green Jedi seemed to know something to say about everything.

It had been too easy. They reached the platform and Padmé was making her way to the speeder when a group of clones, again from the 501st, came running through the door.

_"__There the are! Blast them!"_

"RUN!" Ahsoka yelled, "I'll cover you!"

The yell of pain coming from the Senator froze her blood in her veins. She retreated towards where Padmé had fallen.

"Are you hit?" she asked, still deflecting blaster bolts.

"No, I just fell!"

Ahsoka chanced a look back. The droids were already in the speeder. 3PO was exclaiming that they were all doomed, but R2 had taken the initiative and already started the engines. She took one hand from the grip of the sabre and helped Padmé back to her feet. Of course she chose that moment to have another contraction.

"Can you tell your children to wait until we're in the temple?"

"With their Father?"

"Let's hope they take more after you, Senator."

"Force Ahsoka, call me Padmé."

With the Senator now in cover behind the fuel pump that served any ships docked here, Ahsoka considered her next move. They needed a small window in which to take off, and...

There was only one way, and whatever past she may have shared with the 501st, they had turned themselves into the enemy.

She reached out into the Force and again created a pocket of air in front of herself, even as she dodged the blaster bolts. Unlike on Corellia, she didn't just push it ahead of herself but angled it's path so that it lifted the good dozen of clones off their feat. She made a parting motion with her hands as if trying to swim and the pocket parted, tossing the clones left and right off the platform and into the seemingly endless abyss of Coruscant's streets. She didn't even wait until their screams had faded before she had helped Padmé to her feet and rushed her, as well as she could at least, into the speeder.

Once Padmé was placed and secured in the back, fuzzed over by 3PO, Ahsoka jumped into the pilot's seat. R2 beeped that he had checked everything and all systems were green. "Thanks buddy."

She took a few moments, flipped the switch and made the speeder jump into the air and forward, diving down into the depths of Coruscant. The clones that came out the door at that moment could do nothing but look after them. Except, that is, to call in air support.

The first notion of this that Ahsoka had was a slight tremor in the Force, followed a split second later by blue laser bolts. Ahsoka flew the speeder to it's limits and dove beneath the traffic lane, the few civillian craft that were still flying scattering before her like a herd of bantha younglings. The fighters were faster, and armed, but Ahsoka had one advantage, her craft was smaller, and she could fly a lot closer to the buildings, she had the advantage in an atmosphere. In fact, she figured that the only thing even better suited in her situation would have been a scout bike.

"Hold on!"

She pulled the controls back, and the speeder shot upwards almost vertically, and by it's response time it was obvious that Anakin had modified at some point, because she remembered this model being far more sluggish.

The clone pilots in the two V-Wings were surprised by her sudden move as they shot straight past her. Not wasting the opportunity, she tilted the speeder on one side flew between two freight haulers with inches to spare on either side and left the main lane, taking massively illegal short cut through what was a shopping mall.

"Keep a look out for them, R2."

An affirmative beep followed. The speeder left the mall and turned down the main street that led directly to the temple district. When they were not immediately attacked, Ahsoka chanced a look back to the Senator. Her face was contorted with pain as another contraction hit.

"How far apart?"

"Aw...maybe a minute or so."

Good. That meant that it wasn't that close to go-time yet and they might make it to the temple.

Whatever optimism she may have felt was gone the instant the Temple district came in view. It was like a re-creation of the sacking of Coruscant, minus the towers being blown off. Gunships circled the entire structure, and what seemed like the entirety of the 501st was assaulting the main entrance.

But the clones didn't have it all going their way. Several burnt-out gunships were lying about in front of the temple, and even at this distance Ahsoka could see the flashes of blaster fire and lightsabres near the main entrance, shielded from the gunships by the overhang.

Next she was taught a lesson in keeping her attention on the task at hand, because one of the two V-Wings appeared behind her and while she managed to avoid getting them all killed, one of the three engines was hit and set on fire. Ahsoka realized that she had only one chance. She firewalled what engines she had left and headed straight for the Temple. She would never know why the fighter hadn't closed in and finished her off, but she wasn't about to complain.

* * *

><p>When he re-told the story later, Anakin would always omit the sheer, complete and existential horror he felt at seeing his wife's speeder come in for a crash landing, and it was in this moment, surrounded by dead and dying clones from their last attempt to storm the main entrance that he realized just why the Jedi Order had forsaken attachment. All he wanted to do was -<p>

Much to his surprise it was Master Kolar who did what Anakin wanted to do. The Zabrak Master reached out into the Force and while he couldn't entirely stop the speeder's velocity as it crashed, he managed to cushion it enough so that what would certainly have been fatal to a bump when it crashed near the pillars covering the main entrance. Anakin came back to his senses and as Kolar and the few Jedi assigned to the main entrance covered him, he rushed over to it.

Both Ahsoka and his wife were conscious and seemed to be unharmed, as were the droids, but judging by the way the damaged engine smoked, they wouldn't stay for long. Forsaking subtlety for speed, he used the force to rip the door casing off the vehicle and threw it down to where a crashed gunship was burning merrily away.

"Snips?"

"I'm fine!" she said, and promptly jumped out to join the defence of the main entrance. If Kolar was surprised to see the former Padawan just appear out of the blue he didn't show it, but she was given odd looks by some of the other Jedi.

Anakin meanwhile dragged his wife out of the speeder even as R2 raced over to the entrance, followed by 3PO who had somehow managed to hold onto their bags. The ten metres between the speeder and the entrance that followed were the most terrifying of his life, but when they reached the relative protection of the Jedi and the perimeter formed by dead clones.

He half-carried her, thinking she was still dazed from the near-crash, when her knees buckled and she groaned.

"Anglel, are you hurt?"

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. When the contraction had passed, she said: "No, but our children have inherited your sense of timing and drama."

It took Anakin a few moments to understand what she was trying to say. "What? NOW? Are you certain?"

By that time they had reached the area in the main hall where Master Che had set up a dressing station for the wounded, and she couldn't help a fascinated stare when Anakin Skywalker's wife gave him _the look._ His _wife_. And, by the looks of things, about to bring another...no, two Skywalkers into the world. For all that had happened today already, she couldn't help but wonder of that was something the universe could survive.

**tbc**

**Before anyone complains, Anakin was tempted, for about as long as Data was in First Contact, i.e. for a few seconds at best. You may have noticed, but since they have turned into badguys, the marksmanship of the clones is now proportional to their distance to a main character. Like the exploding consoles I put into my Trek writing it's part of the universe and amuses me at the same time.**

**Also, Chapter 18 will be the last one. I'm working on the sequel, which I'll start posting here once I've build up a decent buffer of chapters.  
>I also may have missed some of your lovely reviews, sorry for that. Still, keep them coming, because these fuel me in writing the sequel. I also always appreciate advice, even if it isn't always taken.<br>**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_"If you want to know how someone stands on the Empire and the Rebellion, ask them about the Battle of the Jedi Temple. The answer will tell you what sort of sentient you are dealing with. It all depends if they call it the Pacification of Coruscant or the Great Jedi Exodus."_

_Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, 15 AJE_

* * *

><p>By the time night fell, fighting still raged, but slowly the Clones were inching their way forward. Four hours after the beginning of the attack, they had twice almost managed to storm the Main entrance, and Obi Wan had been forced to blow the eastern entrance shortly before nightfall using missiles, detonators and demopacks taken from dead Clones as most of the knights assisting him there in the defence had been killed or wounded. The doors there were now blocked by both rubble from the building and the remnants of a gunship that Obi Wan had twisted and wedged in place using the Force.<p>

As Anakin, using a momentary pause in the fighting to visit his wife, walked into the dressing station where she still was, and insisted on helping as well as she could, several more explosions rocked the building. He wasn't (more) worried, it merely meant that Windu and Obi Wan had done the same thing to the other entrances save the main one. Anakin was sad that the building that had been a home to him for years was damaged this way, but he also knew that the dwindling numbers of Jedi that could still fight would be overwhelmed in a very short time indeed if they didn't narrow the frontage they still held. As it was, Master Shaak Ti, together with the oldest younglings and youngest Padawans was constantly roaming through the temple's upper levels in case the Clones tried to enter through the windows. Those had been heavily reinforced since the sacking of Coruscant by the Sith, but would still not stand up to a determined attempt at a breach. So far the 501st had tried this twice, both times driven off by Ti's determined attacks.

One thing however bugged Anakin.

"Master Che, where is Master Yoda?"

The Twi'lek shook her head, head-tails flying. "Hmm."

She tilted her head. "Anakin, have you been upstairs since the Council meeting?"

"No, Master."

"Well, I was, and last I saw him he and the rest of the younglings were emptying the Holocron vault and the chamber in the spire."

So, Yoda had sensed that they were condemned to an ultimately futile defence. But what was he going to do with several hundred Holocrons? He saw Padmé applying an ointment to the blaster wound on a young Jedi, and he decided that he had more important things to do. Stepping up behind her, he layed his arms around her and kissed the top of her sweat-soaked hair.

"How are you, Angel?"

"Still fifty seconds apart. It seems they inherited your stubbornness as well."

She knew though that this was not what he was talking about.

"Worried, tired and..."

She finished what she was doing and sent the knight back to the defence before turning in his arms.

"Anie, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. Master Yoda has a plan, but beats me what it is."

"Do your best, Anie."

"I will, Angel."

Quite a lot of things hadn't been said, but she knew that if the Clones reached her before he did, he would be dead, and he knew that if that happened, Palpatine would not get the satisfaction of her being killed by his Army. The sheer idea of this coming to pass terrified them both, so neither dared say it out loud, but it was there. He gave her a last, quick kiss of support before heading back to the entrance.

Near the hallways that led to the Library, he could see the youngest younglings carry the last of the Holocrons from the vault. Some of them had nothing to do and were only milling about. Anakin couldn't help but watch them in their innocence. He loved the younglings. They had been the only group in the Temple that had never nagged him for being a late joiner, for the way he had found him to the Jedi. They had simply adored him, a feeling that was entirely mutual. He would never give up his children to the order, but the younglings had the sort of companionship and education that he really wanted for the twins.

One of them, a blonde buy, human and no more than seven years old noticed him, and seconds later he found himself surrounded by them all, all of them talking at once.

Once they had settled down somewhat same boy came forward. "Master Skywalker, there are so many of them!"

He was scared, they all were, and Anakin understood them only too well. For all the things they'd heard about the war, this was the first time they had seen it up close, and all of a sudden the entire universe seemed to have turned against them and the only family most of them had ever known. For a second, Anakin felt a strange, special kind of connection with the blonde youngling before it disappeared again, but he spoke to all of them when he said:

"Don't worry, the Masters and the Knights will defend you. After all, hasn't Master Yoda said that a plan he has, hmm?"

They all laughed and giggled when he momentarily lapsed into the way the Grand Master talked.

"Now, trust in the Force and get back to work, will you?"

They went, and Anakin leaned against a pillar to watch them go. Whatever Yoda's plan was, it had better work, because those younglings deserved better to be outright slaughtered or taken away for Sith training. He didn't know which would be worse.

"Skywalker."

He turned and saw Master Windu running to meet him.

"Yes, Master?"

"How is your... wife?"

Under any other set of circumstances Anakin would have found the uncomfortable way Windu spoke beyond hilarious, but he had grown up a lot in the last week, so he merely allowed himself a smile. "Tired, worried, in pain, but still herself and trying to help those less fortunate. I don't deserve her."

Windu nodded. "Skywalker, I.. I did you a disservice when you first joined us. I believed you could not be trusted."

Anakin couldn't believe that Windu was doing this at that very moment, but he also knew that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"Master, I won't say that this hasn't angered me, but if the last week has taught me anything, it's that you do what you think is best for the order. I would have acted the same in your place, and frankly, there were times when I didn't deserve your trust."

For a second he thought back to his last pre-war visit to Tatooine.

"But, what's done is done, and discussing it right now is pointless, is it not?"

Windu agreed, Anakin could see that.

At that point they had reached the the hall of coloumns just behind the entrance.

"Master, if you want to apologize to someone, do it to her."

Windu looked at where Anakin was pointing at, and there stood his old Padawan, trying to keep to the sides and acutely uncomfortable at being back here where she had left under such a bad cloud. When she saw that Windu was looking at her she turned away and was about to go back to the defence line when Anakin stepped away and the two of them were left relatively alone.

"Padawan Tano."

"Not any more."

She turned and left, and Windu pondered the short exchange. She had been just as dismissive of him as the Council had been of her.

In the last two days he had found out that he was wrong about so many things, dismissing what had happened to her as merely one of the trials might as well be one of them. As he watched her go, he couldn't help but think that what had happened to her was what had helped fuel Skywalker's dislike of the Council. Yet another thing on the very long list of things that bore thinking on.

"Master Windu? There is a group of Clones approaching under a flag of truce."

"I will be there."

When he reached the line, he saw Ahsoka standing beside her old Master and he made a promise to himself to repair that as the first of many amends he had to make.

Six clone troopers made their way past the wreckage of war on the steps and stopped about half-way up. In their middle they carried a white flag, the universal sign of truce since long before the Republic had been founded.

"Skywalker, Tano, with me." Windu said and started to walk down the steps without looking if they followed him. He sensed that through the Force that they did, and that Ahsoka was both surprised and confused at his show of trust.

The three Jedi met the Clones near what had once been an AT-RT walker, with the charred remnants of it's pilot still perched in the seat.

"Commander Appo, what do you want?"

"Master Windu, I have been ordered by Chancellor Palpatine to demand your unconditional surrender. If you do so, those of you who are still alive will be spared."

Windu reached out into the Force, sensed no duplicity on Appo's part, but that didn't preclude Palpatine from going back on this, in fact for all the honesty the clone seemed to have, Hoth would melt before the Chancellor.

Still, Yoda had said he needed time, so time was what Windu would gain.

"We will be allowed free passage off Coruscant?"

"No, you will be taken into custody."

"Well there is no point in continuing this then." Windu said and turned on his heels without saying anything. He wasn't really surprised when the next thing he heard was the activation of two light-sabres and those then cutting through bodies.

Windu started ignited his own and started running back towards the temple, the others right behind.

"He was going to shoot you, Master." Ahsoka yelled to be heard over the din of the resuming blaster fire.

"I sensed it as well, Mistress Tano."

"Good, so I wasn't imagining things then."

She wasn't only referring to what had happened just now, and he knew it.

He really hoped that Yoda knew what he was doing.

* * *

><p>To say that Sidious was furious at the delay would be like saying that the sacking of Coruscant had been a minor playground scuffle between children.<p>

The last day had seen key elements of his plan for Galactic domination fall apart completely, and though he knew that the rise of his Empire was only a short time away, he now lacked two key components for his consolidation of power, the contents of the Jedi Temple and an apprentice that could do his bidding out in the field. Skywalker... He would have been perfect, and yet he had chosen the path of weakness. So be it.

He now realized the wisdom of the behind the scenes planning the late Count Dooku had started six years ago, not knowing that it had been indended to keep him busy and not realizing that he was to be killed by Sidious' next apprentice. Now it was a handy Plan B, one that he now needed and had already kicked into high gear.

But for that he needed the Temple, not so much the building as more what was inside it, but the stubborn resistance the Jedi were putting up with the help of Skywalker, and the unlucky incident that had made most of the Jedi in the nearer core congregate on Coruscant.

He had to give it to the Order, they had acted very fast and wise. It would not help them. Even if the 501st was finished as a fighting unit afterwards, eventually they would take the Temple.

Something else he had done wrong was to give into his impulse to order Senator Amidala and her spawn killed out of hand. Had be taken her alive, then he would have not only had two additional apprentices very strong in the Force but the only bargaining chip in the universe that could get Skywalker to abandon the order after all. And not even having her killed had worked out, thanks to Skywalkers annoying former Padawan. It was as if somewhere within the Force there was someone or something that wanted him to fail in his plans and look like fool.

In addition to all this, the timing of Order 66 had been wrong for the speech to the Senate he intended to make. Initially he had planned to have eradication of the Jedi all but completed, giving the Senate established facts and overawe them into supporting the New Order. Now the Senators, especially the dissidents among them, had the time to make up their own mind on what was going on at the Temple. Oh, he had long since started giving out official newscasts that branded the Jedi as traitors, but it wasn't what he had planned on doing when the time for Order 66 came.

Plans aside, this needed to end, now, he decided. The Jedi had managed to hold the temple for almost eleven hours now, and they had to have taken heavy losses.

At least off Coruscant things were going more or less as planned, the Jedi in other places were already dead or being hunted down, and the two Legions he had dispatched to Mustafar instead of just sending a turned Skywalker as he had planned were about to make planet-fall. It would be messy, and he would have to invent a story to explain how he had come to know where the CIS leaders had hidden, but that was something he would do when the time came. Coruscant demanded all his attentions at this time.

He had many things to do, and less time to do it in.

* * *

><p>They had beaten off two more attacks since the 'negotiations', and Anakin was feeling the strain. Even with Force-enhanced endurance, he could not keep this up forever, and he could see that even Windu's movements became slightly less fluid and he took just that much of an instant longer to react.<p>

A third of the Jedi who had been here when all this started were dead, and almost all the other Jedi and older Padawan were wounded, Anakin included. They needed an alternative.

Windu had gone to confer with Yoda, so Obi Wan and Anakin were effectively in command at the entrance.

"We won't be able to hold this for much longer, Anakin."

"I know."

He had gotten a pair of Electrobinoculars from storage and was using it to survey the clone's position. They had withdrawn to the edge of the Temple district for the moment, and were doing... something there.

"This is too quiet."

"I agree, Master." Anakin said. He put the binocs down and turned to lean against the blaster-scarred pillar he stood next to. "We should probably withdraw into the hall and fight them there. They won't be able to stand off as much and will have to get close to engage us. And that's where we have the advantage."

"Agreed, but that gives them a foothold inside the Temple."

"You have a better idea, Obi Wan? Look at them."

He motioned to the group of tired, bleeding and battered Jedi that were huddled behind the barricade they'd constructed. "They'll be lucky if they can hold of a squad or a company, never mind the entirety of the 501st. And I can't help but worry that Palpatine.. or whatever he calls himself will be at an end with what little patience he has with us. Sooner or later he will just decide to blow us all away."

Again, Obi Wan couldn't help but agree. Even though he was willing to die for his fellow Jedi, he had a strong desire to live.

Anakin meanwhile had things to live for too. Padmé's contractions were a little less than twenty seconds apart now, and it could happen at any moment, giving the twin's father a strong desire to end this in a way that didn't get them, their mother, everyone in the Temple and himself killed.

"How is she?"

"Last time I checked, she started yelling at everyone around her, and blamed me for putting her up to this." Anakin said with a painful smile that told just how much he wanted to be by his wife's side.

"And your former Padawan?"

He sighed. "There's something I don't understand. Last time I saw her, she was helping Yoda direct the Younglings."

"You want to fix... this thing for her?"

Anakin shook his head. "No, she won't let me. Ahsoka is someone who wants to fight her own battles. When she left the Order I offered, but she refused it. I think what hurt her the most was that they were so dismissive of her, that the Council refused to acknowledge that they'd done anything wrong. I sometimes think that if they'd just apologized for what had happened and admitted that this whole damned affair was at least in part their own fault.."

"You think she doesn't want to..."

"Rejoin the Order?" Anakin shook his head again. "No, not at the moment. She's still hurt. Until and unless the Council makes some sort of first gesture, one that she believes, that won't change. Even then it's a toss-up what she'll do, even if I know she'll come with us. She has nothing here on Coruscant. Not any more than any Jedi."

It was then that the first cannon opened fire. The same guns Obi Wan had commanded on Cristophsis were no trying their level best to kill him. Luckily who ever gave the orders now had aimed low and instead managed to hit the base of the platform the temple had been constructed on.

"WITHDRAW!"

They led the others inside, where they were met by Windu, every Jedi who could still fight.

"Master Yoda, I hope that your plan is ready to go, because we just ran out of time."

"Ready, we almost are. Hold them back we must for a little longer."

Another shot rocked the Temple, and this one had been aimed perfectly.

It blew away most of the makeshift defences the Jedi had constructed, and the Clones began to flood across the expanse in front of the Temple, up the stairs and into the Main Hall. That hall was darkened. Either the internal power supply had failed or the lights had simply been shut off. At any rate, the Clones slowly advanced into the darkness and activated their helmets' built in night vision systems. Them, suddenly, one after another every lightsabre in the room was activated.

**tbc**

** About here you should start playing "Duel of the Fates" when reading this.  
><strong>

** I know what I said, but AJE = After Jedi Exodus. 15 AJE = 4 BBY.**

** A PSA: I noticed that I mis-typed the Clones with a lower-case C for a while... has been corrected in this and won't happen again in the future.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_"'Fearless' is a name that the Emperor hates, one that the Alliance reveres and one that sentients throughout the known Galaxy know. All thanks to the actions a group of courageous servants of the Old Republic."_

Senator Bail Organa, 19 AJE

* * *

><p>In orbit over Coruscant little was noticeable about the battle raging in the Temple District. Most of the units that were involved had long since deployed groundside, and now the shields were mostly down to allow movement of troops and the many, many wounded that battle generated.<p>

The Victory I-Class Star Destroyer _Fearless_ did it's best not to be noticed by anyone. Not only because it was one of the few ships of her class and size manned exclusively by volunteers ant not a single clone, but also because her Captain and Command Crew had taken to do something that would brand them all as traitors.

Like every ship of her class, she was able to enter the upper atmosphere of any planet, and so Captain Kawgipi had placed her as low and close to the gap in the shields as he dared to without getting blown away by anyone. When queried on why he did so, he had, correctly, stated that her old position, directly above the temple would 'interfere with ongoing operations'.

Of course what she hadn't told them was that she had been in contact with Master Yoda, piggy-backing their signal on a Republican HoloNet stream.

As she and most of her crew were wearing the brown and blue uniform of the Republic Navy, Palpatine was technically their superior, and she knew that some of her crew and officers bought into the line that the Jedi had been trying to usurp the Repbublic, but she had been in contact with the Arcology before almost everything non-GAR had been jammed, and she knew that the Clones that had been brought in to, officially at least, co-ordinate with the Navy were probably there to keep the Navy under control, because even though officially they had been absorbed into the Grand Army of the Republic upon the start of the war, the Department still controlled them at least de jure.

The GAR's dismissive attitude towards them and especially their non-human members on the part of GAR officers like Tarkin were a part of why this organization that had a long history of cooperation with the Jedi was less loyal to whatever Palpatine was trying to pull than he would have liked.

"It's a coup, isn't it, Captain?"

Her Comms Officer, a human from an Outer Rim world currently under CIS occupation, was an old Judicial Forces hand and didn't like the course the Republic had taken under the Chancellor any more than she did.

"What makes you say that, Lieutenant?"

They were standing in a side-alcove of the bridge where they couldn't be overheard.

"Captain," he said, "the Jedi are the only organization that could conceivably be a threat to Palpatine. They've never been happy with the Emergency Powers that Palpatine has thanks to that stupid Gungan, and if anyone knows they are what they say they are, it's us."

Kawgipi said nothing, only tensed her head-tails, a sign that most non Twi'leks interpreted as tension.

"I wish you were wrong, Tan, I really do."

"So what do you want us to do? My people and I are behind you, you know that. We swore to serve the Republic over the Chancellor."

"Not all our people are pre-war entries, remember that."

She stared at the readouts of the nearby sensor station, the flood of vehicles around the Temple district obvious.

"On my word, block all out-ship communications except for TX-1138, and you go and personally tell Commander Mulheso to have the Hyperdrive ready to go at a moment's notice."

"Yes, Ma'am."

One of the consoles in the alcove was Auxiliary Navigation, and she had been a navigator herself before her last two promotions. She knew that her Nav was someone she could trust, but she wasn't so sure about the rest of his people, so she plotted a course herself, a course only she knew and that she would give to the helm only when they needed it. The smaller computer in this console would take forever to calculate it, but if Master Yoda had been correct, the timing would be just about right.

But alas, there was the _Strikefast_ on a position that was too damn close for comfort, and to take the least-time escape vector out of the atmosphere, something would need to be done about her. Her Captain was... an odd person to say the least...

* * *

><p>The fight in the Main Hall raged for a long time, but Ahsoka had been more or less drafted by Master Che to load the wounded who had long since been moved to the Food delivery and Civillian hangars, the two largest semi-protected landing areas in the temple. The massive bay doors were closed, and there had been no serious attempt to breach them, but she knew that it would not last. The Clones had managed to push the defence deeper into the hall, and she sensed that it was only a matter of maybe two hours or so before they had total control of the entire facility.<p>

She was about to go back there, when she saw Master Ti, followed by the rest of the Jedi Temple Guard coming in the other direction.

"Master, where are you going? Master Yoda said that everyone was to withdraw to the Hangars."

Both Togrutans looked at each other, and Ahsoka sensed that wherever she was going, the Master had no intention of coming back.

"Young One, someone has to distract those Clones long enough for the rest of you to get where you are going, and who better than the one who oversaw their training, don't you think?"

Ahsoka had never been particularly close to the Master in spite of hailing from the same homeworld and being something of a kindred spirit in that they were both loners by the standards of their species, but now some sort of connection was established. Ahsoka remembered how eager to please she'd been when Yoda had assigned her to Master Skywalker, but that had gone away when she'd left the Order. Now that she was back.. for the first time since she'd set foot on Coruscant again she felt genuine compassion from a Jedi other than Anakin or Obi Wan. Compassion and genuine, heartfelt sympathy at what had happened to her along with some anger at how the Council had reacted.

"Master, I..."

"No, young one. Your old Master needs you, your friends need you and the Order needs you."

Ahsoka turned her head away. "I am not a member of the Order, not any more."

"But you are still one of the Force, a Jedi in the heart, if not by name. That is something that no one can ever take away from you, that inner connection that makes you a Force sensitive and that has made you into the Jedi that you would have been. If you were no Jedi, had you done what you did to make contact with your old Master, even though you know that that path might lead you back here? Or would you have so readily joined us in our hour of need."

Ti smiled. "I'm told you didn't even waver for an instant when you came here. You instantly sprang to aid those that needed it, you did what was right, you let yourself be flow with the Force. That is the true mark of a Jedi, not a Lightsabre or a set of robes. It is at the core of you, and will always be. In the Order or not. Skywalker values you and what you can do, as does, I believe, Master Kenobi. Skywalker in particular is thankful to you because you saved his family, and I don't believe he will let the others forget that. Not that there will be any need for the reminder. We must trust in the Force to help guide us, but there is nothing wrong with initiative."

"I want to help, Master." Ahsoka said with a sigh, and realized that she desperately wanted to please the other Togrutan. "But I-"

"Take this."

Ti reached into a pocket of her robes and handed Ahsoka an access chip.

"What's that, Master?"

"This is the access code to my Starfighter and R3 unit."

"Of the two of us, you are the better pilot, and the shuttles will need as strong an escort as is possible. At the moment this is the best thing you can do for us."

She gave a nod. "May the Force be with you, Ahsoka Tano."

Ti and the Guards disappeared down the corridor towards the sound of the fighting and Ahsoka remained behind, trying to understand what had just happened. This was the closest thing to an apology she'd gotten, and from one of the Order's best diplomats too.

And that was how she ended up in the upper tower hanger where most of the Council Starfighters were parked. Anakin was there, as was Obi Wan. The latter was wounded and wore a bacta patch on his right arm, though he insisted that he could fly and right now only there to keep Anakin from talking himself out of flying escort for the breakout. Ahsoka would always remember the conversation in which Yoda had detailed his desperate plan. Anakin had never been so worried. Oh, you needed to know him well, but the noise that had come from the shuttle where Padmé and the more lightly wounded waited for departure would unnerve anyone. Jedi tended to suffer minor wounds silently, but there lay the woman he loved more than life itself, screaming in pain from contractions that were now nearly continuous. She knew that he would have much preferred to be on the shuttle with her, but Obi Wan had pointed out that Anakin still was the best Starfighter pilot among the Jedi, and if anyone could keep the Republic interceptors busy long enough for the others to reach _Fearless_, it was him.

"Ahsoka, what are you doing here?" Anakin asked. "I thought you were supposed to be on the shuttle with the older younglings.

She held up the chip. "It seems I've been drafted for something else."

Anakin only stood there and watched as the dirty, tired and bleeding from a few minor cuts Ahsoka confidently walked around the ring of ETA-2s before stopping in front of one that seemed to be almost factory fresh. Every other had scrapes, dents and minor imperfections that came with use and that gave a ship character, but this one, painted in orange and white to match her skin and markings, with an equally under-used R3 unit in the same colours but modified with an R2-style dome.

She inserted the chip into the appropriate slot and the hatch opened. She got in and started the system startup sequence like she had done so many times before. She spent the next few minutes familiarizing her R3 with some of her preferences and habits while flying.

Intellectually, they'd known that Master Ti wouldn't need the fighter any more, but there was something between knowing it and seeing someone else take formal possession of it.

They all knew what was going on right now. The Clones had temporarily withdrawn to the entrance area itself. The Guard, with Ti at their head, would make a short, sharp counter-attack, allowing the remaining Jedi and the remnants of the Temple Security Force, now no longer needed for guard duty elsewhere, to withdraw, split up into pre-arranged groups and then head for the various hangars. When word was received that they were boarding their transports, shuttles, gunships, anything that could carry them, the fighters would launch, attempt to punch a hole into the fighter cover around the temple. Hopefully enough of them would make it to the ship, and the ship then out of the system so that they could do... what exactly?

Anakin knew that trying to think that far ahead wouldn't help him at the moment. Priority was to get at least the younglings and his wife off the planet. Beyond that...

Windu, Kolar and Tiin entered the hangar, and if any of them had something to say about Ahsoka joining them in this, they didn't, and instead boarded their own fighters.

Anakin, already seated and with his headset carefully positioned to avoid a few still touchy patches of skin on his head, switched to their old Squadron frequency out of habit.

"Everything all right, Snips?"

_"Yes, Master. I only wish I didn't have to leave the Steamrunner behind."_

"Don't worry, we'll find another T-51b for you. They aren't exactly rare."

_"Not quite like that one, Master."_ came a slightly sad reply, and he realized that she had been hanging on that shuttle far more than he'd thought.

_"Blue One to Squadron."_ came Windu's voice on another channel, _"Say status."_

_"Blue Two, ready."_ That was Obi Wan.

"Blue Three, ready." Anakin said, reading off the day's Squadron designation as it was fed into the fighter's computer.

_"Blue Four, ready to go."_ Ahsoka.

Blue Five and Blue Six, Masters Kolar and Tiin, checked in next, and without further ado, they launched.

Overall, what was left of the Jedi Order on that day, still managed to field twenty starfighters, even though it took almost all Jedi trained to fly a fighter that were still able to do so. Aside from the pilots all being Force-sensitives, the biggest advantage they had was surprise. Neither the interim Commander of the 501st nor Palpatine had expected that the Jedi would try something like this, and so the pilots that covered the area were woefully unprepared when the Jedi fighters came tearing out of the smoke-shrouded temple and tore into them.

The youngest pilots, now Master-less Padawans and a few of the eldest Younglings were tasked with providing close escort for the various transports as they launched and headed for the position in Orbit where they hoped _Fearless_ would be.

Not that it all went their way. Three fighters and one of the Gunships were shot down almost immediately, and the confusion and surprise would not last forever. And there still was the issue of the _Strikefast_, the only ship that was within striking distance of the refuge the Jedi sought.

Anakin and Ahsoka flew wing to wing as if the past year had never happened. When they engaged a group of three V-Wings head on, they barrel-rolled around each other, firing as they went. The Clone pilots in the V-Wings could not hope to follow that move and were hit one after another. He fired another bolt, but the Clone dove away just in time, the bolt flying inches above his cockpit. Anakin swore, dipped the nose down and then exploded the V-Wing with a single shot into it's engines.

_"Master, break left!"_

Anakin did as directed and then saw an explosion behind him, swiftly followed by Ahsoka's orange and white fighter zooming through the sensor's field of vision.

"Thank you, Snips."

_"Always a pleasure."_

Both rose back to above the roof level and watched. There were only a few V-Wings left, and most of those seemed to be following the transports as they desperately clawed for altitude.

_"Master, I have more fighters coming in from the Senate District!"_

Anakin was about to send a warning, but he saw it always was too late. The V-Wings shot down one of the gunships and damaged another before Blue Five and Blue Six engaged them in blatant disregard for the odds. The furball that followed was soon joined by Obi Wan as well as Ahsoka, Anakin and some of the other remaining Jedi Fighters. Of the sixteen Jedi fighters that had attacked the group of V-Wings, twelve emerged intact. Blue Five was not among them, and Anakin's heart twisted in agony as he watched the ETA-2 spiral towards the building below, trailing a cloud of smoke and fire.

But at least what remained of the Jedi Order now was crossing the shield perimeter, heading towards the triangular ship painted in the same colours as their own Cruisers had been. A second one was moving in, and suddenly they were being fired on by capital-ship turbolasers.

* * *

><p>Aboard <em>Fearless<em> Captain Kawgipi decided that there was only one thing left to do. She loathed doing it and risked having her orders ignored, or worse, be removed by a Palpatine loyalist, who still was the Chancellor, but if she didn't act fast, the Jedi would be dead. She nodded to Lieutenant Tan who blocked external communication as she had orderd.

"Tactical, aim every weapon that will bear on the bridge of _Strikefast_ and open fire on my command."

The bridge crew hesitated for a moment.

"The Republic is dead. If we are ever to see it again, I need you to Open. Fire. NOW!"

With those words she committed herself, her crew and her ship to rebellion.

To their credit, even those who were not as convinced about events as Kawgipi did their jobs, and seconds later the first turbolaser bolts and concussion missiles lanced out towards the other ship. Not having expected anything like real resistance, her Captain had failed to put up all his deflector shields, even as he moved to get a better shot. Especially his bridge deflector shields. No one would ever know, but the last thing Captain Voss Parck would see in his life was a concussion missile flying directly at him.

His ship reacted poorly to the sudden loss of control from the bridge. Instead of stopping where it was supposed to, it continued on, past the fleeing Jedi through the gap in the shield and towards the planet below. At first those still on board tried to arrest the slow crash of their ship, but shock damage and the speed at which she was moving made their efforts pointless. Even if they had managed to gain full control of the manoeuvring surfaces Victory-Class ships had to fly in an atmosphere, the fact that the main sublight engines were down would have rendered the stricken ship unable achieve escape velocity. As it was all they could managed was to avoid the higher buildings until the ship crashed into the same abandoned industrial area where Ahsoka had first tried to meet Anakin.

Few on the surface died, but the incident would still be a centrepiece of Imperial Anti-Rebel propaganda for years to come.

But at that moment the actions of _Fearless_' crew had gained the Jedi the time they needed to achieve orbit. Kawgipi manoeuvred her ship so that her belly and the main hangar doors were easily accessible while she had switched three quarters of her shield power to the spinal generators, as now the other Republic ships began to move in on them.

The shuttles landed first, and their remaining eleven starfighters covering them against any eventualities. They only started landing by the time the nearest Venator opened fire with his forward-most turbolasers.

The hangar doors hadn't even fully closed when _Fearless_ began to move up and away from the planet, firing her turbolasers at the nearest Republic ships.

But bolt upon bolt impacted on her shields, and they would not hold up forever. Additional ships moved in, fighters launched, and suddenly, as soon as she far enough away from the surface, _Fearless_ disappeared into Hyperspace, leaving Coruscant, the dead Republic and the Clones behind.

**tbc**

** I'm making a few assumptions here in regards to the Judicial Forces/Republic Navy, since Wookiepedia has almost nothing on what happened to them post-Geonosis. **

** Shaak Ti's ETA-2 Interceptor is another invention of mine. My google-fu did not allow me to find out anywhere if she ever flew one, all I could find were a few pictures of her in/near a Delta 7, one a Lego model on an obscure Chinese website and another of some mod or other. Point is, the opening scene of ROTS and the old Clone Wars Cartoon seem to indicate that near the end of the war the Council used ETA-2s more or less exclusively, so I'm giving her one of these. Besides, I wasn't able to find any sort of statement that said she didn't. As for why it is an R3, I mostly did that to be able to keep it and R2 apart.**


	18. Chapter 18

_Palpatine's speech is mostly canon. Thanks to whoever transcribed it to the Internet. I just re-wrote bits of it, mostly to reflect that it isn't quite the canon version. For extra enjoyment, go put on the ROTS Ending theme on a loop while reading this, I did it while writing it.  
><em>

**Chapter 18**

Anakin was had been caked in dust, dirt and also a little blood, tired to the bone and looking like death warmed over, he was nothing like the image Republic propaganda had built up of him. Somewhere between then and now he had managed to wash himself and put his robes into the refresher, likely he had still been as he had arrived aboard the ship but been thrown out again until he cleaned himself up.

Obi Wan couldn't help but smile as he watched all four members of the Skywalker family fast asleep in the compartment. Anakin was in a chair at his wife's bedside, securely cradling the girl they had named Leia in his arms, with her brother, Luke, at their mother's side, both wrapped in Republic Navy blankets that some kind soul had donated. To Obi Wan those four represented a hope for the future he would not otherwise have had, considering the events of the last few days and what was to come. Even as the ship hurtled towards the Unknown Regions and the uncertainties that came with it, Obi Wan felt a deep trust in the future and in the Force, and he knew that it was down to those two babies. He could sense from over here that they were both at least as strong in the Force, then hiding them from Palpatine would be something of a task, but with all the remaining Jedi on the ship and them heading farther and farther away from the Core, he was sure that the twins, now a little more than twelve hours old, would be as safe as their father and the Jedi could make them.

Peacefull as the four of them were, Obi Wan could still remember how desperately sad Padmé had been little more than an three hours ago. The ship had briefly stopped to drop of those of her crew that did not wish to follow the rest into what was most certainly a long and very dangerous existence as traitors, rebels or whatever Palpatine chose to brand them as, and she had cried a frightful amount of tears when recording a message to her family. Aside from giving them their first, and all too likely only look at their grandchildren, she had all but ordered them to publicly disown her the moment her connection to brought down unwanted attention.

Captain Kawgipi had been the one to find a fellow Twi'lek trader who she said could be trusted and who had taken the message chip to Naboo where he should arrive in a few hours.

As much as she had not wanted to do it, and as much as Obi Wan knew why, it was necessary. Palpatine had seen to that.

* * *

><p>Five hours earlier<p>

"Angel, do you really want to do this?" Anakin asked, even though he knew that she'd insist even if she was still having contractions instead of having just put Luke and Lei to sleep in their beds at the other end of the room, but placed so she always had them in her field of vision.

"Anie," she yawned, "Anie, if we weren't here, I'd likely be dead, and Palpatine is the one who has inflicted all of this on us. He has declared himself Emperor for life, and I want to hear his own words with my own ears."

She paused and stared at her children for a while, wiping away the last of the tears that she had cried when recording the last message to her parents and family on Naboo, knowing full well that it would be a long time indeed before she saw any of them again, if ever.

"After all, what else is a good citizen of the Galactic Empire to do?" she said in a mocking tone.

Anakin only reached around her shoulders from his side of the couch, tucked her in close and kissed the top of her head.

"Let's do this, then."

He leaned forward and activated the holoprojector.

The figure of Palpatine in the speaker's position of the Senate Chamber resolved itself to clarity. The erstwhile Chancellor and newly minted Emperor looked the way he had when they'd last seen him, except now he wore a dark set of robes and Padmé sensed a sort of sinister aura around him even though this was just a recording.

"A Sith indeed." Anakin said as he watched Palpatine quieten down the hubbub of Senators around him.

"_Citizens of the civilized galaxy, on this day we mark a transition. For a thousand years, the Republic stood as the crowning achievement of civilized beings. But there were those who would set us against one another, and we took arms to defend of way of life against the Separatists. In doing so, we never suspected that the greatest threat came from our own ranks._

_The Jedi, and a great number from within our own Senate, had conspired to create the shadow of Separatism using one of their own as the enemy's leader. They claimed that he had forsaken their teachings. They had hoped to grind the Republic into ruin. But the hatred in their hearts, brought to them by their secretive ways and abnormal teachings, could not be hidden forever. As last, there has come a day when our enemies showed their true natures._

_The Jedi hoped to unleash their destructive power against the Republic by assassinating the head of government and usurping control of the Grand Army of the Republic, while their confederates in this very Senate were to assume official control of the Government. But the aims of those would-be tyrants were valiantly opposed by those without the Jedi's elitist, dangerous powers. Our loyal clone troopers contained the insurrection within the Jedi Temple and quelled uprisings on a thousand worlds._

_The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated. Any collaborators will suffer the same fate. These have been trying times, but we have passed the test._

_Their attempt on my life was foiled before it began. When the Jedi and their confederates found their plans thwarted, they fled Coruscant, but not before lashing out at the innocents that surrounded them. The valiant and loyal crew of the Star Destroyer Strikefast discovered their intent, but the Jedi, never with the least shred of concern for what they consider lesser mortals, killed it's crew and made the ship crash on the surface of this very planet, into the heart of our city. They used the confusion, be it caused by the Fleet's rush to aid the Jedi's victims or by the nefarious use of their powers, fled, but rest assured, the Fleet will not rest until they have been hunted down and brought to justice._

_We stand on the threshold of a new beginning._  
><em><br>In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for 10,000 years. An Empire that will be continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign ruler chosen for life. An Empire ruled by the majority, for the majority, ruled by a new constitution._

_By bringing the entire galaxy under one law, one language, and the enlightened guidance of one individual, the corruption that plagued the Republic in its later years will never take root. Regional governors will eliminate the bureaucracy that allowed the Separatist movement to grow unchecked. A strong and growing military will ensure the rule of law._

_Under the Empire's New Order, our most cherished beliefs will be safeguarded. We will defend our ideals by force of arms. We will give no ground to our enemies and we will stand together against attacks from with or without. Let the enemies of the Empire take heed: Those who challenge Imperial resolve will be crushed._

_The Jedi are still dangerous. To combat this vile threat, there will be a specialized branch of the Imperial Executive, made up of dedicated individuals who will, unlike the Jedi, use their powers for the good of the populace and the Empire._

_We have taken on a task that will be difficult, but the people of the Empire are ready for the challenge. Because of our efforts, the galaxy has traded war for peace and anarchy for stability. Billions of beings now look forward to a secure future. The Empire will grow as more planets feel the call, from the Rim to the wilds of unknown space._

_Imperial citizens must do their part. Join our grand star fleet. Become the eyes of the Empire by reporting suspected insurrectionists and Jedi. Travel to the corners of the galaxy to spread the principles of the New Order to barbarians. Build monuments and technical wonders that will speak of our glory for generations to come._

_The Clone soldiers, proudly wearing the name of Imperial stormtroopers, have tackled the dangerous work of fighting our enemies on the front lines. Many have died in their devotion to the Empire. Imperial citizens would do well to remember their example._

_The New Order of peace has triumphed over the shadowy secrecy of shameful abusers of their gifts. The direction of our course is clear. I will lead the Empire to glories beyond imagination._

_We have been tested, but we have emerged stronger. We moved forward as one people - the Imperial citizens of the first Galactic Empire. We will prevail. Ten thousand years of peace begins today."_

The hologram disappeared and silence reigned in the compartment for a long time.

"Well," Padmé said, "at least we know where we stand. Democracy died to thundering applause."

Her disgust was obvious.

"I'm sorry, Padmé, I..."

"Nothing of this is your fault. If you had done anything differently, we might not..."

She trailed off as he had and only looked over to where their children were sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the distress of their parents. "No, Ani. There is nothing you have to blame yourself for."

"Still, we have made ourselves a very powerful enemy, in more ways than one."

* * *

><p>Obi Wan turned away and returned to the cabin that had been assigned to him. He laid down on the cot, sighed and tried to get some sleep.<p>

The moment his eyes had closed, he heard a voice he'd never thought would hear again.

"You did well, Padawan."

His eyes open he was upright instantly.

"Master."

Qui-Gon Jinn smiled in his very own secretive way, a smile that Obi Wan knew very well, however rarely he'd seen it.

"Some things never chance, do they? I hear you have a similar issue with your own Padawan."

"Master.. how is this possible?"

"Haven't the last few days taught you there are ways of the Force beyond the Order's wisdom?" Qui-Gon shook his head. "If Anakin was to teach you anything, it was that."

The blue-tinted Force apparition sighed. "But I suppose we were both too set in our ways. I suppose you wonder what brings me here?"

When Obi Wan nodded, Qui-Gon sat down on the foot of the cot.

"Obi Wan, you may think that what befell the Order is the worst possible outcome, but believe me, it is not. Things could have been much, much worse."

"But how? We were driven from the temple. Three in four of our number are dead, and we have been made fugitives to be hunted down and killed like... criminals."

"Maybe so, but have you ever considered what would have happened of Sidious had been successful?"

"You mean he wasn't?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "Not completely, no. I know Anakin told you what Sidious was trying to do when he met him in his office?"

"Of course."

"Have you ever considered what may have happened had he managed to turn Anakin? If your Padawan had fallen to the Dark Side of the Force?"

The cold, hard tendrils of dread clenched around Obi Wan's heart.

"Yes. Anakin would have been the one to lead the attack on the Temple. Anakin would have slaughtered everyone in side, from Masters down to the younglings. He would have been the new Sith apprentice and helped cement the Empire."

He paused, taking in the disbelief in his old Padawan's face. "Obi Wan, if he had turned, his dreams of Padmé's death would have come true, and he would have been the one to kill her. Oh, not directly, no. But he would still have been responsible for her death, and it would have fallen on you to hide the twins from him."

Obi Wan was close to tears, and with a desperate sadness, he looked at his old Master.

"Why are you telling me this? Why are you burdening me with this knowledge?"

"Because Anakin knows this as well, though only the general idea, not the minutia of what would have happened. Those dreams that allowed him to expose Sidious gave him more than a window into the future that would have been. If he ever wants to talk to someone about this, he must know that you are the first Jedi he can come to. Always."

Neither said anything for a while.

"He was tempted, for a very short while at least. And do you want to know what made that time so short?"

Obi Wan shook his head, unable to say anything.

"You. Your support and unwavering friendship. His wife, her love and the knowledge that you would give your everything for her safety just as he would. He knew that Sidous was not his only chance to save her, and thanks to you he knew that the visions he had of her death were anything but a certainty. That was what allowed him to turn away from the path to the Dark Side, the knowledge that whatever happened, you would stand there beside him. And that is what I need you to do in the future."

"He... he will be temped again?"

"Not that I know. But the path before you will nevertheless be a dangerous, difficult and very long one. Anakin is still the Chosen One, and if he is to fulfil his destiny, he needs you, his wife and his Padawan by his side."

"What would have happened to Ahsoka?"

Qui-Gon shrugged. "She would have been forgotten by history, from a certain point of view."

Obi Wan sensed that there was more to it than that, but if his old Master did not wish to tell him, the wouldn't press the issue, as it was pointless.

"At any rate, Anakin needs to know that you will be there with him. I can't tell you what is going to happen, it will be challenging, you will see and experience things beyond your imagination, you will see splendours both subtle and gross, and you and the Skywalkers, all of them, will be a beacon of light in the darkness that has descended. The Jedi Order will be the last, best hope for all sentience."

Qui-Gon disappeared.

**The End.**

**For now**

**A final author's note: I had an absolute, utter and totally ball writing this. I haven't had this much fun in creating a verse in a very long time. Maybe it's because of the somewhat... suboptimal treatment several characters and institutions have been given in the Legends EU (which, for the record, I believe is an alternate universe of the Disney!Canon-verse and still chugging along elsewhere in the Multi-verse of fiction, like the relaunch of that other franchise), and my opinions over some of that will be readily apparent.**

**Now, the sequel. Star Wars: The Skywalker Heresy Episode II: Forces of Rebellion, coming to a website near you maybe this weekend already.**

**Lastly, John Williams is a god among men.**

**May the Force be with you.**


End file.
